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Halibut with Caper Sauce

Halibut cooked in boiling water, served with thick caper sauce, small new 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. If you don't have a fish-boiler, place the halibut on a plate and tie it in a napkin.

Poach and serve

  1. Bring a pot of water to a boil and add vinegar and salt.

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

  3. Remove the halibut carefully to prevent breaking.

  4. Pour thick caper sauce over the halibut.

  5. 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 flaky, moist main body of the dish, cooked gently in simmering water.
Thick caper sauce
Adds a rich, creamy coating and a sharp, tangy contrast to the mild fish.
Small new potatoes
Provide a starchy, soft side that absorbs the sauce and balances the fish.

The step that matters

Removing the halibut from the water. Cooked fish is delicate, and its flakes separate easily when it is moved. Lifting it gently, ideally supported on both ends, keeps the pieces intact.

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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