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Turbot, Baked

Baked turbot seasoned with butter, pepper, salt, nutmeg, parsley, and wine, served with a sauce and garnishes.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 13 ingredients
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Why it works: Pepper and parsley match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 34,122 recipes. Both carry 4'-methylacetophenone, which smells bitter almond. The science ↓

Turbot, Baked

Oven, in the book's wordsA moderate oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a moderate oven”. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Prepare

  1. Empty, wash, and dry the turbot.

  2. Rub the inside of a baking dish with 2 tablespoons of butter.

  3. Sprinkle the dish with pepper, coarse sea salt, grated nutmeg, and parsley.

  4. Place the turbot in the dish and season the top with more seasoning.

  5. Dot the fish with 2 ounces of butter and dredge with flour.

  6. Add ⅓ cup of light wine and optional oyster broth or mushroom juice.

Bake and serve

  1. Bake in a 350°F (175°C) oven for 20-30 minutes, depending on size.

  2. Once done, carefully lift the fish onto a serving dish and keep warm.

  3. Pour the baking dish liquid into a saucepan, thicken with flour and butter, and stir over heat for 1-2 minutes.

  4. Serve the sauce in a tureen and garnish the turbot with horseradish, lemon, fried bread, or parsley.

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. Pepper + parsleytop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together34,122 recipes

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

  2. Nutmeg + parsleytop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together5,062 recipes

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

  3. Pepper + nutmegtop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together13,015 recipes

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

  4. Nutmeg + flourtop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together18,623 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  5. Turbot + oystertop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together92 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-octenal (fatty, green).

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

What each ingredient does

Turbot
Is the main fish, providing the flaky, delicate flesh that forms the body of the dish.
Butter
Adds richness and moisture, keeping the fish from drying out while it bakes.
Flour
Dredged on the fish and later used to thicken the pan liquid into a sauce.
Light wine
Adds moisture and acidity to the baking liquid, which becomes the base of the sauce.

The step that matters

Bake for the right time. Fish cooks quickly and turns dry and firm past doneness, so check it within the stated 20-30 minute window, adjusting for the fish's size.

Swap the nutmeg

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (turbot, butter, pepper, parsley, wine, oyster, flour):

  1. Thymefits better
  2. Capersfits better
  3. Nutmegthe original
  4. Tarragonfits about as well

Fit is the average pairing score against turbot, butter, pepper, parsley, wine, oyster, flour. 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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