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
Place the turbot in a pot and cover it completely with cold water.
Add a handful of coarse sea salt and a glass of vinegar.
Bring the water to a gradual boil, skimming frequently to maintain the fish's color.
Once cooked, serve garnished with curled parsley, lemon, and horseradish.
Serve with butter in separate dishes.
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.
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Parsley + lemontop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together14,037 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).
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Parsley + horseradishtop 6% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together562 recipes
Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).
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Lemon + horseradishtop 9% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together1,155 recipes
Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).
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Vinegar + horseradishtop 12% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together2,609 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Parsley + buttertop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together28,563 recipes
Shared aroma: trans-2-hexenal (green, leafy).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Turbot
- Is the main fish, cooked gently in the water until it sets and flakes.
- Vinegar
- Adds a little acidity to the poaching liquid, which helps keep the fish flesh firm and white.
The step that matters
Bring the water to a gradual boil. Boiling hard breaks up the delicate fish and clouds the flesh, while slow heating keeps it tender and intact. Skimming removes foam and impurities that would dull the surface and colour of the fish.
Swap the horseradish
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (turbot, vinegar, parsley, lemon, butter):
- Shallotfits better
- Chivefits about as well
- Leekfits about as well
- Horseradishthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against turbot, vinegar, parsley, lemon, butter. 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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