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Fried Halibut

Fried halibut coated in seasoned flour, served with a milk‑flour gravy.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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Why it works: Pork and milk are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 12% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 4,386 recipes. Both carry 4-heptenal, which smells creamy, biscuit. The science ↓

Fried Halibut

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Slice the fat salt pork and fry it slowly in a large frying pan until light brown.

  2. Remove the pork and keep it hot.

  3. Wash the halibut in cold salted water and dry it on a clean cloth.

  4. Cover the halibut on both sides with Indian meal seasoned with salt and pepper.

Fry and serve the fish

  1. Fry the halibut brown on both sides in the pork drippings.

  2. Serve the fried halibut with the pork.

Make the gravy

  1. For gravy, pour nearly all the fat out of the frying pan after cooking the fish.

  2. Mix 1 pint of milk with 1 tablespoon of flour until smooth.

  3. Add the milk mixture to the pan, season with salt and pepper, and stir constantly until it boils for 1 minute.

  4. Serve the gravy in a bowl alongside the fried halibut.

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. Pork + milktop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,386 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4-heptenal (creamy, biscuit).

  2. Milk + flourtop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together78,219 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  3. Pork + peppertop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together22,121 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  4. Pepper + flourtop 19% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together50,459 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  5. Pepper + milktop 22% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together26,984 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl 2-methylbutyrate (fruity, apple).

Milk and flour barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 78,219 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.

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

What each ingredient does

Halibut
Is the main fish that is coated and fried until brown.
Fat salt pork
Its drippings fry the halibut and add savory, salty flavor.
Indian meal
Forms a crisp, browned coating on the outside of the fish.
Milk
Forms the liquid base of the gravy, giving it body and a creamy texture.
Flour
Thickens the milk into a smooth gravy as it heats and boils.

The step that matters

Stirring the gravy as it boils. Flour mixed into milk can clump or scorch on the bottom of the pan if not stirred constantly. Constant stirring keeps it smooth while the starch thickens it as it boils.

“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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