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Turbot, a LA Creme Au Gratin

A baked fish dish with a creamy milk and flour sauce, onions, herbs, and a breadcrumb‑Parmesan topping.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 15 ingredients
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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 ↓

Turbot, a LA Creme Au Gratin

Oven, in the book's wordsA warm oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a warm 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 until cooked, then remove all bones and skin.

  2. Season the fish lightly with white pepper and salt.

Make the sauce

  1. In a bowl, mix the milk and flour until smooth.

  2. Add the sliced onions, thyme, parsley, nutmeg, salt, and white pepper to the milk mixture.

  3. Place the mixture over a double boiler and stir constantly until it thickens.

  4. Remove from heat and stir in the butter and egg yolks.

  5. Pass the mixture through a sieve.

Bake and serve

  1. In a baking dish, layer the sauce and fish alternately until all are used.

  2. Top with grated bread crumbs and Parmesan cheese.

  3. Bake in a 350°F (175°C) oven for 30 minutes for a dish or 15 minutes for shells.

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. Thyme + parsleytop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together9,057 recipes

    Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).

  2. Parsley + nutmegtop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together5,062 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

  3. Thyme + nutmegtop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,907 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

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

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

  5. Flour + nutmegtop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together18,623 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

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

What each ingredient does

Fish
Provides the flaky body of the dish, which holds its shape under the sauce.
Milk
Forms the base of the sauce, giving it a smooth, creamy liquid body.
Flour
Thickens the milk into a smooth sauce as it heats and starch swells.
Butter
Adds richness and a silky mouthfeel to the finished sauce.
Egg yolks
Enrich and thicken the sauce, adding body and a richer colour.
Parmesan cheese
Melts and browns on top, adding savoury flavour and a golden crust.

The step that matters

Stirring the sauce while it thickens. Flour-thickened milk can scorch or form lumps if left unstirred over heat. Constant stirring keeps the starch dispersed so the sauce thickens smoothly.

Swap the white pepper

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

  1. Marjoramfits better
  2. Winter savoryfits better
  3. Fennelfits better
  4. White pepperthe original

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