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To Boil Turbot

A whole turbot is boiled in salted vinegar water and served with parsley, lemon, horseradish, lobster sauce, anchovy butter, and plain butter.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 10 ingredients
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Why it works: Parsley and lemon match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 14,037 recipes. Both carry beta-phellandrene, which smells minty, terpene. The science ↓

To Boil Turbot

Ingredients

Directions

Poach the fish

  1. Place the turbot in a kettle and cover it completely with cold water.

  2. Add a handful of coarse sea salt and ⅓ cup of vinegar.

  3. Gradually bring the water to a boil, skimming off any impurities.

Serve

  1. Serve garnished with curled parsley, lemon, and horseradish.

  2. Serve lobster sauce, anchovy butter, and plain butter in separate dishes.

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. Parsley + lemontop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together14,037 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

  2. Turbot + saucetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together248 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  3. Sauce + anchovytop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,057 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  4. Turbot + anchovytop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together110 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-ol (mushroom, earthy).

  5. Lobster + anchovytop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together470 recipes

    Shared aroma: octanal (fat, soap).

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

What each ingredient does

Turbot
The main fish, which is gently poached whole in the cold water.
Vinegar
Adds a light acidity to the poaching liquid, which helps firm the delicate flesh.
Lobster sauce
Offers a rich, savoury accompaniment that contrasts with the mild fish.
Anchovy butter
Adds a salty, savoury depth to the butter served alongside the fish.
Plain butter
Adds richness and a smooth texture that complements the poached fish.

The step that matters

Skimming off impurities while bringing the water to a boil. Impurities rise to the surface as the water heats. Removing them keeps the poaching liquid clear and the fish flesh clean in flavour. Heating gradually helps the fish cook evenly rather than toughening on the outside.

“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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