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Turbot a LA Creme

A baked turbot dish with a creamy sauce of flour, milk, onions, herbs, butter, and egg yolks, topped with breadcrumbs and cheese.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 12 ingredients
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Why it works: Parsley and thyme 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 ↓

Turbot a LA Creme

Oven, in the book's wordsA moderate oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a moderate oven”. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Prepare the fish

  1. Boil the fish and remove all bones.

  2. Season the fish with white pepper and salt.

Make the sauce

  1. In a pot, mix flour with milk until smooth.

  2. Add onions, parsley, thyme, salt, and white pepper.

  3. Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly until thickened.

  4. Remove from heat.

  5. Stir in butter and egg yolks until well combined.

  6. Pass the mixture through a sieve.

Bake and serve

  1. In a baking dish, layer the sauce and fish alternately, finishing with sauce on top.

  2. Sprinkle with bread crumbs and cheese.

  3. Bake at 350°F (175°C) for 30 minutes.

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. Parsley + thymetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together9,057 recipes

    Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).

  2. Onion + thymetop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together11,171 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

  3. Milk + buttertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together81,283 recipes

    Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).

  4. Onion + parsleytop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together25,843 recipes

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

  5. Fish + buttertop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,488 recipes

    Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).

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

What each ingredient does

Fish
Forms the flaky body of the dish, set firm by baking within the sauce.
Flour
Thickens the milk into a smooth sauce as its starch swells when heated.
Milk
Forms the liquid base of the sauce, giving it a creamy, tender body.
Butter
Adds richness and a silky mouthfeel to the finished sauce.
Egg yolks
Enrich and further thicken the sauce as they set gently with heat.
Bread crumbs
Form a crisp, golden topping as they brown in the oven.

The step that matters

Cooking the sauce until thickened. Flour must be stirred constantly over medium heat so its starch swells evenly without lumps or scorching. Egg yolks should be added off the heat, since high heat can curdle them and make the sauce grainy.

Swap the white pepper

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (fish, flour, milk, onion, parsley, thyme, butter):

  1. Marjoramfits better
  2. Capersfits better
  3. Tarragonfits better
  4. White pepperthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against fish, flour, milk, onion, parsley, thyme, butter. 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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