Skip to main content
Main

Turbot, Boiled

Turbot boiled in salted water, then served with lobster spawn, parsley, lemon, lobster or shrimp sauce, and melted butter.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 9 ingredients
Jump to recipe ↓

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 ↓

Turbot, Boiled

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the fish

  1. Soak the turbot in salt water for 3-4 hours to remove slime, then cleanse it thoroughly.

  2. Make an incision down the middle of the back to prevent the belly skin from cracking.

  3. Rub the fish with lemon and do not cut off the fins.

Boil

  1. Place the fish in a clean kettle, cover with cold water, and add salt.

  2. Bring the water to a gentle boil, skimming carefully, and simmer without boiling fast.

  3. Cook until the meat separates easily from the bone, about 20 minutes for a middling-sized turbot.

  4. Remove the fish, let it drain, and serve on a hot napkin.

Garnish and serve

  1. Rub lobster spawn through a sieve and sprinkle over the fish, garnishing with parsley and lemon.

  2. Serve with lobster or shrimp sauce and melted butter.

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. Lemon + parsleytop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together14,037 recipes

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

  2. Turbot + lobstertop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together163 recipes

    Shared aroma: octanal (fat, soap).

  3. Parsley + buttertop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together28,563 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-hexenal (green, leafy).

  4. Lemon + buttertop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together41,227 recipes

    Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).

  5. Lobster + buttertop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,609 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,6-nonadienal (cucumber, green).

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

What each ingredient does

Turbot
Is the main protein; its firm flesh becomes flaky and separates from the bone when gently poached.
Salt
Salt water draws out surface slime and seasons the fish as it cooks in the salted water.
Lobster spawn
Rubbed through a sieve, it adds a rich, delicate flavour and colour to the finished fish.
Plain melted butter
Adds fat and richness that complements the mild, lean flesh of the poached fish.

The step that matters

Simmer gently without boiling fast. A rolling boil toughens and breaks up delicate fish flesh, while a gentle simmer cooks it evenly and keeps it moist and intact.

“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.

More boiled turbot recipes

with Lobster Sauce 4Plain 3 See all 114 →

You might also like

Lemon SauceLemon Sauce236 recipesLobster SauceLobster Sauce174 recipesLobster CroquettesLobster Croquettes99 recipesLobster BallsLobster Balls7 recipes