Why it works: Fish and butter are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 12% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 4,488 recipes. Both carry (z)-4-heptenal, which smells biscuit, cream. The science ↓
Broiled Fish
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Clean and split the fish.
Rub a double broiler with suet.
Broil
Place the fish, flesh side down, in the broiler.
Broil over the fire, turning until both sides are brown.
Carefully transfer to a heated dish.
Season and serve
Sprinkle with salt and pepper, spread with butter, and serve.
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.
Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it
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.
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Fish + buttertop 12% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together4,488 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
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Fish + peppertop 21% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together3,948 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
-
Pepper + buttertop 21% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together85,593 recipes
Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Suet
- Fat that greases the broiler so the fish does not stick and its surface can brown.
- Butter
- Adds fat and richness to the finished fish after cooking.
The step that matters
Turning the fish until both sides are brown. Fish is delicate and can tear or dry out if turned too early or left too long. Browning both sides evenly needs steady heat and patience so the flesh cooks through without falling apart.
“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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