Name: Steamed Fish for an Invalid
Ingredients: 1 whiting, plaice, or sole; a little butter; salt to taste; lemon juice (optional)

Why it works: Butter and lemon are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 16% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 41,227 recipes. Both carry 3-hexenal, which smells apple, fruity. The science ↓

Steamed Fish for an Invalid

Ingredients

1 whiting, plaice, or sole
a little butter
salt to taste
lemon juice (optional)

Directions

Prepare

Butter two plates well.
Fillet the fish.
Place the fillet on one plate.
Sprinkle a little salt over the fish.
Cover with the other plate.

Steam

Steam over a saucepan of boiling water for 15 to 20 minutes, depending on the thickness of the fillets.

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.

Butter + lemontop 16% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together41,227 recipes

Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).
Whiting + buttertop 21% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together510 recipes

Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
Whiting + lemontop 22% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together238 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, plaice, or sole: Forms the delicate flesh that cooks gently into soft, flaky pieces when steamed.
Butter: Adds richness and helps keep the fish from sticking to the plate.

“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.