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Baked Halibut

Baked halibut served with a butter‑flour gravy.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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Why it works: Butter and flour are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 12% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 124,287 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓

Baked Halibut

Oven, in the book's wordsA steady oven

Ingredients

Directions

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

Prepare the fish

  1. Soak the halibut in salt water for 1 hour before cooking.

  2. Wipe the fish dry and score it across the top with a sharp knife.

Bake

  1. Place the halibut in a dripping pan and bake at 350°F (175°C) for about 1 hour.

  2. Baste several times with hot water and melted butter.

  3. Once done, transfer the fish to a hot dish.

Make the gravy and serve

  1. Strain the gravy left in the pan and bring it to a boil.

  2. Add 2 teaspoons of butter rubbed smooth with 2 tablespoons of browned flour to the gravy.

  3. Just before removing from heat, stir in 1 tablespoon of Worcestershire sauce and the juice of 1 lemon.

  4. Pour some gravy over the fish and serve the rest in a gravy boat.

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. Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together124,287 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  2. Butter + saucetop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together15,338 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  3. Butter + lemontop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together41,227 recipes

    Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).

  4. Flour + lemontop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together30,404 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  5. Flour + saucetop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together8,078 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

Butter and flour barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 124,287 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.

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

What each ingredient does

Halibut
Forms the main flesh of the dish, cooking to flaky, moist fish when baked.
Browned flour
Thickens the strained pan juices into a smooth gravy with a nutty flavour.
Butter
Adds richness and moisture while basting and enriches the gravy.
Lemon juice
Adds acidity that brightens the rich gravy.

The step that matters

Adding the flour and butter paste to the gravy. Flour added directly to hot liquid clumps, so it must be rubbed smooth with butter first and whisked in while the gravy is boiling to thicken evenly.

Swap the lemon

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (butter, flour, sauce):

  1. Raisinfits better
  2. Avocadofits better
  3. Coconutfits better
  4. Lemonthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against butter, flour, sauce. 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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