Why it works: Thyme and parsley match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 9,057 recipes. Both carry cuminaldehyde, which smells Spicy, cumin. The science ↓
Fillets of Turbot a l'Indienne
Ingredients
Directions
The book gives no oven temperature. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.
Prepare the fish
Cut the turbot straight down the center from head to tail.
Slant your knife and cut under the fillet, keeping close to the bones to remove it.
Repeat with the other three fillets.
Chop the bones (not the head) into small pieces.
Make the stock
Place bones in a stewpan, cover with 1 pint of white stock, and add stock-pot vegetables and the herb bouquet.
Boil gently for 1 hour.
Cook and serve
Cut the fillets into neat scallops, shaped like pears.
Heat clarified butter in a sauté pan.
Sprinkle the fillets with pepper and salt.
Cover the fillets with a round of paper.
Bake in a preheated oven at 400 °F (200 °C) for about 12 minutes.
Serve on a border of potato paste with plain boiled rice and curry sauce in the center.
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.
-
Thyme + parsleytop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together9,057 recipes
Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).
-
Carrot + parsleytop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together8,053 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
-
Parsley + peppertop 2% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together34,122 recipes
Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
-
Carrot + thymetop 3% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together4,563 recipes
Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).
-
Thyme + peppertop 4% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together11,585 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Turbot
- Firm white fish whose flesh holds its shape and turns flaky when cooked.
- White stock
- Adds moisture and savoury body to the fish-bone stock.
- Clarified butter
- Cooks the fillets in fat and adds richness without milk solids that burn.
- Stock-pot vegetables
- Give the stock sweetness and aroma as they simmer.
The step that matters
Baking the fillets. Fish proteins tighten and dry out once they are cooked through, so the 12 minutes must be watched closely. The paper round over the fillets traps steam and helps keep them moist.
Swap the onion
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (chicken, turbot, carrot, thyme, parsley, butter, pepper):
- Leekfits better
- Potatofits better
- Shallotfits better
- Onionthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against chicken, turbot, carrot, thyme, parsley, butter, 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.
You might also like
Chicken Broth257 recipes
Potato Croquettes255 recipes
Chicken Soup156 recipes
Carrot Soup134 recipesThe free Flavor Lab newsletter: one surprising pairing a week and the molecular reason it works, in 60 seconds. No spam, unsubscribe anytime.
Prefer an account? Create a free account to save pairings and unlock the full chemistry.