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Halibut with Caper Sauce

Halibut served with a thick caper sauce, boiled potatoes, and parsley garnish.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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Why it works: Potato and parsley are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,855 recipes. Both carry 4'-methylacetophenone, which smells bitter almond. The science ↓

Halibut with Caper Sauce

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Tie the halibut in a napkin and place it on a plate.

  2. Boil water and add vinegar and salt for each quart.

Cook and serve

  1. Submerge the halibut in boiling water and cook for 20 minutes.

  2. Remove the halibut and pour thick caper sauce over it.

  3. Arrange small new potatoes around the halibut and garnish with parsley sprigs.

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. Potato + parsleytop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,855 recipes

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

  2. Vinegar + parsleytop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together6,477 recipes

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

  3. Vinegar + potatotop 20% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,608 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).

  4. Sauce + parsleytop 23% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together6,693 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  5. Sauce + potatotop 25% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together1,073 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

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

What each ingredient does

Halibut
Forms the main body of the dish, cooked gently in simmering water to stay moist and tender.
Thick caper sauce
Adds moisture and a sharp, briny flavor that contrasts with the mild fish.
Vinegar
Adds acidity to the poaching water, lightly flavoring the fish.
Small new potatoes
Provide a starchy side that complements the fish and sauce.

The step that matters

Submerge the halibut in boiling water and cook for 20 minutes. Fish proteins set and toughen quickly when overcooked, becoming dry and flaky in an unpleasant way. Keeping the cooking time measured and the fish in water that is hot but not violently boiling helps it stay moist and tender.

Swap the potato

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (vinegar, sauce, parsley):

  1. Shallotfits better
  2. Mustardfits better
  3. Horseradishfits better
  4. Potatothe original

Fit is the average pairing score against vinegar, sauce, 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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