Why it works: Whiting and parsley work together. They rank in the top 16% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 330 recipes. Both carry ethanol, which smells alcoholic, ethereal. The science ↓
To Boil Whitings
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Scrape, clean, and wipe the whitings.
Poach and serve
Place them on a fish plate and immerse in boiling water.
Add salt, bay leaves, and tied parsley.
Simmer for 5 to 10 minutes, watching closely to avoid overcooking.
Serve with parsley and butter, using the cooking liquid.
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.
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Whiting + parsleytop 16% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together330 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
- Whitings
- Provide the delicate flesh that gently firms and flakes as it poaches.
- Bay leaves
- Add a subtle aromatic, herbal note to the poaching liquid.
- Parsley
- Adds fresh, green aroma to the poaching liquid and the finished fish.
The step that matters
Simmer for 5 to 10 minutes, watching closely. Fish proteins tighten and dry out when overheated, so the fish turns tough and crumbly. Keeping the liquid at a gentle simmer and checking early helps the flesh stay 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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