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Turbot

Baked turbot fish served in a creamy milk sauce topped with cracker crumbs.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 9 ingredients
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Why it works: Parsley and pepper match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 34,122 recipes. Both carry 4'-methylacetophenone, which smells bitter almond. The science ↓

Turbot

Ingredients

Directions

The book gives no oven temperature. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.

Prepare the fish and sauce

  1. Steam the turbot fish until cooked through.

  2. In a saucepan, heat the milk until nearly boiling. Thicken the milk with flour until it reaches the consistency of thick cream.

  3. Remove from heat and stir in the beaten eggs and butter.

Assemble and bake

  1. Butter a baking dish and layer the fish and dressing until full.

  2. Sprinkle cracker crumbs on top and bake at 400°F (200°C) for 20 minutes.

  3. Serve in individual dishes if desired.

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. Parsley + peppertop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together34,122 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

  2. Milk + buttertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together81,283 recipes

    Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).

  3. Fish + buttertop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,488 recipes

    Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).

  4. Flour + buttertop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together124,287 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  5. Parsley + flourtop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together16,675 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

Flour and butter barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 124,287 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.

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

What each ingredient does

Turbot fish
Forms the main body of the dish, providing flaky, mild protein.
Milk
Forms the creamy base of the dressing, giving it moisture and richness.
Flour
Thickens the milk so the dressing holds together rather than running off the fish.
Eggs
Set during baking, binding the dressing and fish into a sliceable layer.
Butter
Adds fat and richness to the dressing, improving flavour and mouthfeel.

The step that matters

Thicken the milk with flour. Flour must be cooked smoothly into the hot milk to reach a thick cream consistency; lumps or thin sauce will make the dressing separate or run when baked.

Swap the parsley

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (turbot, fish, milk, pepper, flour, egg, butter):

  1. Nutmegfits about as well
  2. Capersfits about as well
  3. Parsleythe original
  4. Tarragonfits less well

Fit is the average pairing score against turbot, fish, milk, pepper, flour, egg, 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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