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Turbot and Brill

A baked turbot served with Parisian sauce, Allemande sauce, consommé, white wine, and garnished with crayfish tails, mussels, oysters, mushrooms, and truffles.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 13 ingredients
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Why it works: Turbot and sauce match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 248 recipes. Both carry ethanol, which smells alcoholic, ethereal. The science ↓

Turbot and Brill

Ingredients

Directions

The book gives no oven temperature. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.

Poach the turbot

  1. Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).

  2. Simmer the turbot in the oven for about 45 minutes, basting every 5 minutes.

  3. Drain the turbot and let it cool in the larder, reserving the cooking liquid.

  4. Reduce the cooking liquid and mix it with the Parisian sauce.

Coat and bake

  1. Once cooled, place the turbot on a buttered baking sheet.

  2. Spread a thin layer of Allemande sauce over the turbot and sprinkle with bread crumbs.

  3. Moisten the fish with consommé and white wine.

  4. Bake for 20 minutes until warmed through.

Sauce and serve

  1. Gently slide the turbot onto a serving dish and sauce it with the Parisian sauce.

  2. Garnish with crayfish tails, mussels, oysters, button mushrooms, and truffles tossed in glaze.

  3. Serve the remaining sauce in a separate dish.

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

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  2. Mushroom + truffletop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,900 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-nonadienal (fatty, green).

  3. White wine + mushroomtop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,765 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity).

  4. Turbot + crayfishtop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together24 recipes

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

  5. Turbot + oystertop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together92 recipes

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

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

What each ingredient does

Turbot
Firm white fish that becomes tender and flaky when gently simmered and then baked.
Parisian sauce
Reduced cooking liquid mixed with it gives the fish a rich, concentrated sauce.
Allemande sauce
Creamy, enriched sauce that keeps the fish moist and adds a smooth layer under the crumbs.
Bread crumbs
Form a thin crust that browns during baking and adds light texture.
Consommé
Adds savory moisture and flavor to the fish before baking.
Glaze
Gives the truffles a glossy coating and a sheen on the garnish.

The step that matters

Simmering the turbot in the oven. Basting every 5 minutes keeps the surface from drying while the fish cooks gently. Overcooking makes the flesh dry and firm instead of moist and flaky.

“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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