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John Dory

A lightly simmered John Dory served with lemon, parsley, and sauces such as lobster, anchovy, shrimp, or melted butter.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 9 ingredients
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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

  1. Clean the John Dory thoroughly and remove the fins, leaving the head intact.

  2. Place the fish in a fish kettle and cover with warm water.

Poach and serve

  1. Add salt to taste and bring the water to near boiling.

  2. Simmer gently for 15 minutes, or longer if the fish is large.

  3. Serve on a hot napkin, garnished with cut lemon and parsley.

  4. Accompany with lobster, anchovy, or shrimp sauce, and plain 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. Sauce + anchovytop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,057 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  3. Lobster + anchovytop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together470 recipes

    Shared aroma: octanal (fat, soap).

  4. Lobster + saucetop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,095 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  5. Fish + anchovytop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together637 recipes

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

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

What each ingredient does

John dory fish
The main protein; gentle simmering firms its flesh while keeping it moist.
Lobster sauce
Adds rich, savoury flavour that complements the mild white fish.
Anchovy sauce
Contributes salty, savoury depth that stands up to the delicate fish.
Shrimp sauce
Adds a briny, sweet seafood note to the mild flesh.
Plain melted butter
Adds fat and richness, carrying flavour across each mouthful of fish.

The step that matters

Simmering the fish gently. Water at a hard boil toughens and breaks up delicate fish flesh, while gentle simmering cooks it evenly and keeps it moist. Fish is done when the flesh turns opaque and flakes easily.

“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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