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Whiting, Broiled

A simple broiled whiting seasoned with clarified butter, salt, pepper, and served with cold butter.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
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Why it works: Whiting and butter work together. They rank in the top 21% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 510 recipes. Both carry ethanol, which smells alcoholic, ethereal. The science ↓

Whiting, Broiled

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Dip the whiting in clarified butter and season with salt and pepper.

  2. Place the fish on a grill.

Cook

  1. Broil over a clear fire, turning frequently.

  2. Broil for about 20 minutes until cooked through.

Serve

  1. Rub a little cold butter on each fish.

  2. Place the fish in a hot serving dish. Serve.

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. Whiting + buttertop 21% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together510 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  2. Butter + peppertop 21% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together85,593 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).

  3. Whiting + peppertop 30% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together374 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

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

What each ingredient does

Whiting
The main fish, whose delicate flesh cooks through and flakes when done.
Clarified butter
Coats the fish so it browns evenly and does not dry out over the fire.
Cold butter
Adds richness and a creamy finish as it melts over the hot fish.

The step that matters

Broil over a clear fire, turning frequently. Frequent turning exposes each side to steady heat, so the surface browns without scorching while the fish cooks through. Fish proteins set and toughen with excess heat, so an even, moderate fire keeps the flesh moist and tender.

“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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