Why it works: Lemon and parsley match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 14,037 recipes. Both carry beta-phellandrene, which smells minty, terpene. The science ↓
Baked Halibut or Salmon
Ingredients
Directions
The book says “a hot oven”. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.
Prepare
Soak the fish in cold water with a little coarse sea salt for 30 minutes.
Preheat the oven to 400°F (200°C).
Place a gridiron over a dripping pan with a little hot water.
Bake and brown
Bake the fish for about 30 minutes for small fish or 1 hour for large fish.
Butter the top of the fish just before it is done and brown it nicely.
Make the sauce and serve
For the sauce, combine the gravy from the dripping pan with catsup, pungent sauce, and lemon juice.
Thicken the sauce with brown flour moistened with a little cold water.
Garnish the dish with parsley sprigs and currant jelly.
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.
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Lemon + parsleytop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together14,037 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).
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Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Flour + parsleytop 12% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together16,675 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Butter + saucetop 15% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together15,338 recipes
Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
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Butter + parsleytop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together28,563 recipes
Shared aroma: trans-2-hexenal (green, leafy).
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 or salmon
- Forms the main body of the dish, cooking through to flaky, moist flesh.
- Butter
- Adds richness and helps the top brown nicely near the end of baking.
- Brown flour
- Thickens the pan gravy into a sauce by swelling when moistened and heated.
- Lemon juice
- Adds acidity that brightens the sauce and balances its richness.
- Catsup
- Contributes sweetness and tomato flavour to the sauce.
The step that matters
Butter the top just before it is done. Butter added too early can brown or burn before the fish cooks through, while adding it near the end gives an even golden finish on the flesh.
Swap the lemon
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (salmon, butter, sauce, flour, parsley):
- Avocadofits about as well
- Lemonthe original
- Limefits less well
- Coconutfits less well
Fit is the average pairing score against salmon, butter, sauce, flour, parsley. 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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