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Steamed Fish

A whole fish steamed after marinating in vinegar, pepper, and salt.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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Why it works: Pepper and parsley match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 34,122 recipes. Both carry 4'-methylacetophenone, which smells bitter almond. The science ↓

Steamed Fish

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Secure the tail of the fish in its mouth to form a circle.

  2. Pour the vinegar over the fish and season with pepper and salt.

  3. Let it stand for 1 hour in a cool place.

  4. Pour off the vinegar and place the fish in a steamer over boiling water.

Steam and serve

  1. Steam for 20 minutes, or longer for larger fish, until the meat easily separates from the bone.

  2. Drain well and serve on a clean, folded white napkin on a platter.

  3. Garnish with sprigs of curled parsley or beet cuttings.

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. Pepper + parsleytop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together34,122 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

  2. Vinegar + peppertop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together27,814 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

  3. Vinegar + parsleytop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together6,477 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

  4. Fish + parsleytop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together2,341 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).

  5. Fish + peppertop 21% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together3,948 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

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

What each ingredient does

Whole fish
Provides the protein that firms and turns opaque as it steams.
Vinegar
Acidity that marinates the fish and helps firm the surface before steaming.

The step that matters

Steam until the meat easily separates from the bone. Fish is cooked when its flesh turns opaque and flakes easily. Steaming longer for larger fish helps ensure the center cooks through, while overcooking makes the flesh dry and tough.

Swap the parsley

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (fish, vinegar, pepper):

  1. Tarragonfits better
  2. Parsleythe original
  3. Dillfits about as well
  4. Marjoramfits less well

Fit is the average pairing score against fish, vinegar, pepper. 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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