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To Bake Turbot

Baked slices of turbot coated in egg and breadcrumbs, served with sauce.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 10 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 ↓

To Bake Turbot

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.

Prepare

  1. Cut the turbot into slices and remove the bones.

  2. Dip the slices in the beaten egg, then roll them in a mixture of bread crumbs, minced parsley, pepper, and coarse sea salt.

  3. Place the slices in a well-buttered dish.

Bake and serve

  1. Bake in a 350°F (175°C) oven, basting frequently with butter.

  2. Once done, serve the pieces with lobster or oyster sauce seasoned with Cayenne pepper, salt, and ketchup.

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. Turbot + ketchuptop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together11 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

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

    Shared aroma: octanal (fat, soap).

  4. Bread + buttertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together27,232 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).

  5. Lobster + ketchuptop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together48 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

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

What each ingredient does

Turbot
Forms the main flaky fish portion that is baked and served.
Beaten egg
Binds the bread crumb coating so it adheres to the fish.
Bread crumbs
Forms a crisp, golden coating that browns in the oven.
Butter
Adds moisture and richness, and helps the coating brown as it is basted.
Lobster or oyster sauce
Provides a savoury, briny sauce that complements the mild baked fish.

The step that matters

Basting with butter in the oven. Frequent basting keeps the surface moist while the fish cooks and helps the crumb coating brown evenly. Without it, the coating can dry out or brown unevenly before the fish is cooked through.

Swap the parsley

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (turbot, egg, bread, pepper, butter, lobster, ketchup):

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

Fit is the average pairing score against turbot, egg, bread, pepper, butter, lobster, ketchup. 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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