Why it works: Lemon and parsley 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 ↓
John Dory
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Clean the John Dory thoroughly and remove the fins.
Place the fish in a fish kettle and cover with cold water. Add ½ cup of coarse sea salt for every gallon of water.
Cook and serve
Bring the water to a gentle boil, then simmer for 30 to 45 minutes, depending on the size of the fish.
Serve the fish on a hot napkin, garnished with cut lemon and parsley.
Accompany with lobster, anchovy, or shrimp sauce, and plain melted butter.
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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Lemon + parsleytop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together14,037 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).
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Parsley + lobstertop 24% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together890 recipes
Shared aroma: octanal (fat, soap).
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Lemon + lobstertop 29% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together1,100 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
- John dory
- The main fish, whose firm white flesh is cooked gently in the poaching liquid.
- Coarse sea salt
- Seasons the poaching water so the fish is flavoured as it cooks.
The step that matters
Simmer gently, do not boil hard. A gentle simmer cooks the fish evenly and keeps its flesh tender and moist, while a hard boil can break up the delicate flakes.
“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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