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Turbot, Cold, with Shrimp Chutney

Cold turbot served with a shrimp chutney made from shrimp, oil, vinegar, cayenne, and salt.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 ingredients
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Why it works: Shallot and parsley match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 3,737 recipes. Both carry 2,4-decadienal, which smells seaweed. The science ↓

Turbot, Cold, with Shrimp Chutney

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the fish

  1. Remove the flesh from the bones of the turbot and skin it.

  2. Cut the fish into neat pieces and arrange on a serving dish.

  3. Garnish with green parsley.

Make the shrimp chutney

  1. Finely mince the shelled shrimp and pound them into a smooth paste.

  2. Season the shrimp paste with cayenne and salt if needed.

  3. Mix in Lucca oil and vinegar to achieve a smooth paste.

  4. Adjust the oil and vinegar ratio to taste, aiming for a thick custard-like consistency.

  5. Optionally, add finely minced shallot to the mixture.

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. Shallot + parsleytop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together3,737 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).

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

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

  3. Pepper + shallottop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together5,898 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).

  4. Vinegar + shallottop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,374 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  5. Pepper + vinegartop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together27,814 recipes

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

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

What each ingredient does

Shrimp
Provides the main body and savory flavor of the chutney once pounded into a paste.
Lucca oil
Adds fat and richness, helping the pounded shrimp become smooth and creamy.
Vinegar
Adds acidity that brightens the flavor and balances the richness of the oil.

The step that matters

Adjusting the oil and vinegar ratio. Too much oil makes the paste greasy and too much vinegar makes it sharp and loose. Adding them gradually and tasting lets you reach a thick, smooth, custard-like texture.

Swap the shallot

The recipe marks shallot as optional. How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (turbot, shrimp, pepper, vinegar, parsley):

  1. Capsicumfits about as well
  2. Shallotthe original
  3. Chivefits about as well
  4. Cucumberfits about as well

Fit is the average pairing score against turbot, shrimp, pepper, vinegar, 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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