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Halibut Steak

Halibut steak coated in eggs and breadcrumbs, fried or broiled.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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Why it works: Bread and butter 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 ↓

Halibut Steak

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Wash and dry the halibut steaks.

  2. Prepare rolled cracker or bread crumbs.

  3. Beat the eggs in a bowl.

Cook

  1. Dip each steak into the beaten eggs, then coat with bread crumbs after seasoning with salt.

  2. Fry the coated steaks in hot fat until golden brown.

  3. Alternatively, broil the steaks on a buttered grill over a clear fire, seasoning with salt and pepper.

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. Bread + buttertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together27,232 recipes

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

  2. Bread + eggtop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together22,662 recipes

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

  3. Bread + peppertop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together20,964 recipes

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

  4. Egg + buttertop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together118,967 recipes

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

  5. Pepper + buttertop 21% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together85,593 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).

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

What each ingredient does

Halibut steaks
Forms the main body of the dish, cooking to a firm, flaky texture.
Eggs
Bind the crumb coating to the fish so it adheres during frying.
Cracker or bread crumbs
Form a crisp, golden crust that browns when fried.
Fat for frying
Conducts heat to brown the coating and crisp the crust.

The step that matters

Frying the coated steaks in hot fat. If the fat is not hot enough, the coating absorbs grease and turns soggy instead of browning quickly. Hot fat sets the egg and crumb crust fast, keeping the fish moist inside.

“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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