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Garlic Seared Halibut

Halibut fillets seared and served with a garlic butter sauce made from wine, broth, lemon, and butter.

From the Wikibooks Cookbook · 10 ingredients
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Why it works: Garlic and olive are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 25,665 recipes. Both carry linalool, which smells floral, citrus. The science ↓

Garlic Seared Halibut

Timeabout 3–4 minutes per side

Ingredients

Directions

Marinate

  1. Combine garlic, ¼ cup white wine, lemon, and ½ cup chicken broth in a gallon-size zip-top bag. Add fish and toss to coat.

  2. Refrigerate for 1 hour.

  3. Take fish out of the marinate and reserve the marinate. Sprinkle on both sides liberally with kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper and set aside.

Sear and make the sauce

  1. Melt 1 tbsp butter with olive oil in a 12‑inch stainless steel sauté pan over medium‑high heat. Add fish and cook until golden brown and cooked through, about 3–4 minutes per side. Remove and keep warm.

  2. Deglaze pan with reserved marinate and reserved wine and chicken broth. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to low and cook until reduced by ⅓.

  3. Whisk in butter 1 tbsp at a time, waiting until the tbsp before it is melted before adding a new one. Spoon sauce over halibut and serve warm.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

573Calories
59 gProtein
32 gFat
7 gCarbs
What these numbers assume: 9 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Chicken100g cooked165
Halibut100g cooked140
Olive Oil1 tbsp (14g)119
Butter1 tbsp (14g)102
Wine2 tbsp cooking wine (30ml)25
Lemonjuice of 1 lemon (48ml)12
Black Pepper1 tsp ground (2.3g)6
Garlic1 clove (3g)4
Salt1 tsp (6g)0

One typical portion per ingredient; the recipe's quantities are not counted. A rough guide only, not for medical or dietary planning.

Recipe from the Wikibooks Cookbook.

Steps grouped into stages for easier reading; the method is the source's own.

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. Garlic + olivetop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together25,665 recipes

    Shared aroma: linalool (floral, citrus).

  2. Pepper + lemontop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together27,047 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).

  3. Garlic + chickentop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together10,850 recipes

    Shared aroma: 3-ethyl-2,5-dimethylpyrazine (roasted, nutty).

  4. Lemon + olivetop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together11,922 recipes

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

  5. Pepper + garlictop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together27,090 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

Halibut fillets
Provide the main protein, which cooks through and turns flaky when seared.
White wine
Adds acidity and aroma, and its reduction concentrates flavour in the sauce.
Unsalted butter
Enriches the sauce with fat, giving it a smooth, glossy texture when whisked in.
Chicken broth
Supplies savoury body to the marinade and the reduced pan sauce.
Garlic
Contributes pungent aroma that mellows and sweetens as it cooks.

The step that matters

Reducing the sauce and whisking in the butter. Reducing by a third concentrates the marinade and pan juices. Adding butter gradually over low heat lets it emulsify into a smooth sauce; if the heat is too high or butter is added too fast, the sauce can split and turn greasy.

“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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