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Grilled Red Mullet

Grilled red mullet served with a herb butter.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 ingredients
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Why it works: Tarragon and chervil match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 824 recipes. Both carry estragole, which smells anise, licorice. The science ↓

Grilled Red Mullet

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Wipe the red mullets with a damp cloth and make 3 or 4 incisions across each fish.

  2. Place the fish on a dish, pour salad oil over them, season with salt and pepper, and let them marinate for about 1 hour.

Make the butter

  1. In a bowl, mix the butter, parsley, tarragon, chervil, lemon juice, and a pinch of salt and pepper to make Maitre d'hotel butter.

  2. Spread the butter on a plate, refrigerate until firm, then shape into pats.

Grill and serve

  1. Ensure the grill is clean and preheat it for grilling.

  2. Grease the grill, place the red mullets on it, and cook slowly over a bright fire, turning frequently.

  3. Once cooked, transfer the fish to a dish, add Maitre d'hotel butter on top, garnish with fresh parsley, and serve hot.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

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.

  1. Tarragon + cherviltop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together824 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  2. Parsley + lemontop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together14,037 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

  3. Parsley + tarragontop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,563 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  4. Tarragon + lemontop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,137 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

  5. Parsley + cherviltop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together774 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Red mullets
Provides the main flesh, which firms and browns as it cooks over the fire.
Salad oil
Coats the fish during marinating and helps prevent sticking and drying on the grill.
Fresh butter
Adds richness and moisture, melting into the herbs to carry flavour over the hot fish.
Lemon juice
Adds acidity that brightens the rich butter and balances the fish.

The step that matters

Grilling the mullets over a bright fire. Cooking slowly and turning frequently helps the fish cook through without scorching the skin, which burns quickly over intense heat. A greased grill keeps the delicate skin from sticking and tearing.

Swap the chervil

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (pepper, butter, parsley, tarragon, lemon):

  1. Thymefits better
  2. Marjoramfits better
  3. Chervilthe original
  4. Dillfits about as well

Fit is the average pairing score against pepper, butter, parsley, tarragon, lemon. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

“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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