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Turbot, Ragout of

A baked turbot ragout with butter, lemon, wine, egg, Parmesan, and breadcrumbs.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 11 ingredients
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Why it works: Butter and bread are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 27,232 recipes. Both carry delta-decalactone, which smells sweet, creamy. The science ↓

Turbot, Ragout of

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.

Cook the fish

  1. Cook the diced turbot in butter and lemon juice for 20 minutes.

  2. Mix flour with white wine, add the mixture to the pan and bring to a boil.

  3. Remove from heat.

  4. Beat in the egg, seasoning, and melted butter.

Assemble and bake

  1. Butter a dish and coat it with grated Parmesan cheese.

  2. Pour the mixture into the dish.

  3. Sprinkle with more cheese and bread crumbs.

  4. Pour over melted butter.

  5. Place the dish in a water bath.

  6. Bake in a 350°F (175°C) oven for 10 minutes.

  7. Brown the surface with a salamander or hot shovel just before serving.

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. Butter + breadtop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together27,232 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).

  2. White wine + parmesan cheesetop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together697 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl isobutyrate (fruity, ethereal).

  3. Butter + white winetop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together5,083 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).

  4. Butter + parmesan cheesetop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,163 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

  5. Lemon + white winetop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together3,832 recipes

    Shared aroma: myrcene (balsamic, herbaceous).

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

What each ingredient does

Turbot
Provides the main body of the dish and its delicate flaky texture.
Egg
Binds the mixture and sets on heating to give it a firm, custard-like body.
Flour
Thickens the cooking liquid so the mixture holds together rather than running.
Butter
Adds richness and moisture, and carries flavour through the fish and topping.
Parmesan cheese
Adds savoury flavour and helps the topping brown in the oven.

The step that matters

Brown the surface just before serving. The surface is already cooked, so browning is only for colour and crust. Over-browning or heating too long can dry the dish and toughen the egg, so this should be a quick finish.

Swap the lemon

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (turbot, butter, flour, white wine, egg, parmesan cheese, bread):

  1. Lemonthe original
  2. Plumfits about as well
  3. Applefits about as well
  4. Figfits about as well

Fit is the average pairing score against turbot, butter, flour, white wine, egg, parmesan cheese, bread. 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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