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Halibut--turkish Style

Halibut cutlets baked in a pan on onion slices with butter, tomatoes and sweet green pepper.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
By Mary Ronald · From a historical cookbook (Project Gutenberg) · 3 ingredients
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Why it works: Onion and tomato are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 8% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 20,633 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓

Halibut--turkish Style

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the pan

  1. Place two or three slices of onion on the bottom of a baking pan.

  2. Place a cutlet of halibut on the onion.

  3. Put a tablespoonful of butter, cut into small bits, over the top of the fish.

Add the vegetables

  1. Cut three skinned tomatoes into quarters.

  2. Slice a sweet green pepper into ribbons.

  3. Put the tomatoes and pepper on the fish.

Bake and serve

  1. Put the pan on the shelf of the oven to cook the vegetables first, without letting them discolor or change shape.

  2. Remove the pan to the bottom of the oven, baste it well, and finish cooking.

  3. When done, place the fish carefully on a hot dish.

  4. Pour the juice from the pan over the fish.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

376Calories
22 gProtein
25 gFat
15 gCarbs
What these numbers assume: 4 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Salmon100g cooked208
Butter1 tbsp (14g)102
Onion1 medium (110g)44
Tomato1 medium (123g)22

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

By Mary Ronald. Recipe from a historical cookbook (Project Gutenberg).

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. See the original page.

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. Onion + tomatotop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together20,633 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  2. Butter + fishtop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,488 recipes

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

  3. Onion + buttertop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together42,912 recipes

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

  4. Fish + tomatotop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together213 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-hepten-3-one (metal).

  5. Onion + fishtop 19% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together1,924 recipes

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

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

What each ingredient does

Halibut (in the method)
Forms the main body of the dish and cooks gently in the pan juices.
Butter
Adds fat and moisture that bastes the fish as it bakes.
Tomatoes
Release juice that moistens the fish and adds gentle acidity.
Onion
Sits under the fish, adding aroma and flavour to the pan juices.

The step that matters

Baking the vegetables first on the upper shelf. Starting high in the oven lets the vegetables cook without discoloring or losing their shape. Moving the pan lower afterward finishes the fish gently, so it stays moist rather than drying out.

Swap the tomato

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

  1. Potatofits better
  2. Leekfits better
  3. Chivefits better
  4. Tomatothe original

Fit is the average pairing score against onion, butter, fish. 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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