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‘Horly’ of Whiting-fillets

A fried fish dish of small whiting fillets coated in a light batter of flour, egg, white wine, and oil.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 ingredients
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Why it works: Flour and parsley are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 12% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 16,675 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓

‘Horly’ of Whiting-fillets

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the fillets

  1. Season the fillets and let them macerate for 1 hour.

  2. Drain the fillets.

  3. Lightly flour the fillets.

Make the batter and fry

  1. In a bowl, mix flour, egg, white wine, and oil to create a light paste.

  2. Dip each fillet into the paste.

  3. Plunge the fillets into hot fat.

  4. Fry until golden brown.

  5. Drain the fillets.

  6. Salt the fillets.

Serve

  1. Serve on a folded napkin with fried parsley around.

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. Flour + parsleytop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together16,675 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  2. White wine + parsleytop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,890 recipes

    Shared aroma: myrcene (balsamic, herbaceous).

  3. Flour + eggtop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together106,462 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  4. Whiting + parsleytop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together330 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  5. Whiting + flourtop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together303 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

Flour and egg barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 106,462 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.

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

What each ingredient does

Whiting fillets
The main protein, which is cooked through and turns firm and flaky when fried.
Flour
Forms a dry coating on the fillets that helps the paste cling and crisp during frying.
Egg
Binds the light paste so it coats the fillets evenly and sets as it fries.
White wine
Thins the paste and adds acidity and aroma while its liquid helps create a light, crisp coating.

The step that matters

Plunge the fillets into hot fat. If the fat is not hot enough, the coating absorbs oil and turns greasy instead of sealing quickly and browning. Hot fat sets the paste fast, keeping the fish moist inside and the coating crisp.

Swap the parsley

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (whiting, flour, egg, white wine):

  1. Capersfits about as well
  2. Parsleythe original
  3. Nutmegfits about as well
  4. Tarragonfits less well

Fit is the average pairing score against whiting, flour, egg, white wine. 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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