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Turbot

A whole turbot cooked in a seasoned broth and topped with a buttery anchovy‑capers sauce.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 18 ingredients
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Why it works: Thyme and parsley match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 9,057 recipes. Both carry cuminaldehyde, which smells Spicy, cumin. The science ↓

Turbot

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the fish

  1. Rub the fish with some vinegar for firmness.

  2. Place the fish belly up in a fish plate and cover tightly with a cloth.

  3. Boil gently in hard water with plenty of salt and vinegar, skimming to prevent discoloration.

  4. Ensure the water is boiling before adding the fish, then drain when cooked.

  5. Carefully remove the cloth and transfer the fish to a dish without breaking it.

Poach and serve

  1. In a stew pan, layer thyme, parsley, sweet herbs, and sliced onion, then place the fish on top.

  2. Cover the fish with an equal amount of white wine and vinegar, adding a little coarse sea salt and whole pepper.

  3. Gradually heat the stew pan, then remove from heat, leaving the fish in the liquid while you prepare the sauce.

Make the sauce

  1. In a saucepan, melt the butter and add anchovies, capers, chives, pepper, salt, nutmeg, flour, vinegar, and a little water, shaking continuously.

  2. Once the sauce is ready, pour it over the fish and serve hot.

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. Thyme + parsleytop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together9,057 recipes

    Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).

  2. Thyme + basiltop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,768 recipes

    Shared aroma: terpineol (pine, woody).

  3. Parsley + basiltop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together2,351 recipes

    Shared aroma: myristicin (spice, warm).

  4. Parsley + chivetop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together2,150 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

  5. Onion + chivetop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,907 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

Butter
Enriches the sauce with richness and a smooth, silky body.
Flour
Thickens the butter sauce so it coats the fish.
Anchovies
Adds a deep, savoury background flavour to the sauce.
Capers
Contribute a sharp, briny acidity that cuts the richness of the butter.
White wine
Adds acidity and aroma to the poaching liquid, flavouring the fish.

The step that matters

Boil gently in hard water with plenty of salt and vinegar, skimming to prevent discoloration. A gentle simmer keeps the delicate fish flesh moist and intact, while salt and vinegar help firm it. Skimming removes foam and impurities that would otherwise cloud the surface and cause discoloration.

Swap the onion

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (turbot, vinegar, thyme, parsley, chive, basil, white wine):

  1. Shallotfits better
  2. Leekfits better
  3. Cucumberfits better
  4. Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against turbot, vinegar, thyme, parsley, chive, basil, white wine. 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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