Skip to main content
Main

Turbot

A boiled turbot seasoned with salt, vinegar, herbs, and served with oyster patties or gravy.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 20 ingredients
Jump to recipe ↓

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. Wash and clean the turbot thoroughly.

  2. Rub the fish with some salt to firm it up.

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

Boil and serve

  1. Ensure the water is boiling before adding the fish.

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

  3. Once cooked, carefully drain the fish and remove the cloth.

  4. Transfer the fish to a dish carefully to avoid breaking it.

  5. Garnish with oyster patties or fried oysters, and serve with lobster or gravy sauce in boats, garnished with crispy parsley and pickles.

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

Turbot
The main fish, whose firm flesh holds together during gentle poaching.
Salt
Firms the flesh when rubbed on and seasons the poaching water.
Vinegar
Acidity in the poaching water helps keep the fish flesh white.
Butter
Enriches the sauce with fat and a rich, smooth texture.
White wine
Adds acidity and aroma to the sauce.
Anchovies
Add savory depth and salty umami to the sauce.

The step that matters

Boiling the fish gently in hard, salted water. Vigorous boiling breaks up delicate fish flesh and can cause it to fall apart. Gentle simmering cooks it evenly while keeping it intact. Skimming removes foam that can discolor the fish.

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.

More boiled turbot recipes

with Lobster Sauce 4Plain 3 See all 114 →

You might also like

Tomato SoupTomato Soup526 recipesBrown BreadBrown Bread461 recipesMutton BrothMutton Broth292 recipesYorkshire PuddingYorkshire Pudding264 recipes