Why it works: Fish and butter are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 12% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 4,488 recipes. Both carry (z)-4-heptenal, which smells biscuit, cream. The science ↓
Boiled Fish
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Remove the scales, eyes, and fins from the fish.
Clean the fish well and wipe with a damp cloth.
Boil
Place the fish in hot water with enough salt and vinegar to flavor the water.
Boil gently until the tail bones come out easily, about 20 to 30 minutes for a good-sized fish.
Carefully lift the fish out of the water and drain it well.
Serve
Serve the fish neatly on a dish with melted butter or white sauce.
Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures.
Explore the science
The flavor team
The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.
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Fish + buttertop 12% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together4,488 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
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Vinegar + buttertop 23% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together13,513 recipes
Shared aroma: isoamyl acetate (banana, pear).
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Fish + vinegartop 26% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together1,036 recipes
Shared aroma: acetoin (butter, cream).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Fish
- Is the main protein, cooked gently in water until it becomes tender and flaky.
- Vinegar
- Adds a light acidity to the poaching water, brightening the flavour of the fish.
The step that matters
Boil gently. Vigorous boiling breaks up the delicate flesh and can make it fall apart. Keeping the water at a gentle simmer cooks the fish evenly and keeps it intact.
“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.
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