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 ↓
John Dory
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Clean the John Dory thoroughly and remove the fins.
Poach the fish
In a fish kettle, cover the fish with cold water and add the coarse sea salt.
Bring the water gradually to a boil, then simmer gently for 30 minutes to 1 hour, depending on the size of the fish.
Serve
Serve the fish on a hot plate, garnished with cut lemon and parsley.
Serve with lobster sauce, anchovy sauce, or plain melted butter.
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.
-
Lemon + parsleytop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together14,037 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).
-
Fish + lemontop 15% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together1,889 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
-
Fish + lobstertop 17% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together326 recipes
Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-one (mushroom, metallic).
-
Fish + parsleytop 18% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together2,341 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
-
Parsley + lobstertop 24% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together890 recipes
Shared aroma: octanal (fat, soap).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- John dory fish
- Is the main protein; gentle poaching keeps its flesh moist and tender.
- Coarse sea salt
- Seasons the poaching water so the fish is flavoured from the cooking liquid.
The step that matters
Bring the water to a boil gradually, then simmer gently. Vigorous boiling agitates and toughens delicate fish protein and can break the flesh apart. Gentle simmering cooks it evenly and keeps it moist and intact.
“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.
More john dory recipes
You might also like
Lemon Sauce236 recipes
Lobster Sauce174 recipes
Fried Fish120 recipes
Lobster Croquettes99 recipesThe free Flavor Lab newsletter: one surprising pairing a week and the molecular reason it works, in 60 seconds. No spam, unsubscribe anytime.
Prefer an account? Create a free account to save pairings and unlock the full chemistry.