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Broiled Turbot

A whole turbot seasoned with herbs and spices, broiled, and finished with butter and cayenne pepper.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 12 ingredients
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Why it works: Parsley and thyme 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 ↓

Broiled Turbot

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Rub the turbot dry with a cloth and make 4-5 incisions on both sides.

  2. Tie the head to prevent the jaws from opening while broiling.

  3. Mix parsley, onions, bay leaves, thyme, cloves, mace, and peppercorns with oil. Stuff the mixture into the incisions and oil the fish all over.

  4. Marinate for 2-3 hours.

Broil and serve

  1. Remove all spices and roots, then place the fish on a hot, oiled gridiron over a slow fire.

  2. Cook until the meat easily leaves the bone, then rub the white side with butter mixed with cayenne pepper.

  3. Serve with champagne or Madeira sauce.

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 + thymetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together9,057 recipes

    Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).

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

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

  3. Thyme + clovetop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together4,108 recipes

    Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).

  4. Thyme + peppertop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together11,585 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

  5. Clove + peppertop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together17,451 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).

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

What each ingredient does

Turbot
Forms the main body of the dish, and its firm flesh holds together over the fire.
Oil
Carries the herbs and spices into the fish and keeps the surface from drying out while broiling.
Butter
Adds richness and moisture to the white side and helps it brown lightly.
Onions
Release moisture and sweetness into the marinade, flavouring the flesh as it rests.

The step that matters

Cooking over a slow fire until the meat easily leaves the bone. Gentle, steady heat cooks the flesh through evenly while keeping it moist. Cooking too fast or too hot dries the outside and leaves the centre underdone, so the flesh does not release cleanly from the bone.

Swap the mace

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (turbot, parsley, onion, thyme, clove, butter, pepper):

  1. Marjoramfits better
  2. Allspicefits better
  3. Winter savoryfits better
  4. Macethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against turbot, parsley, onion, thyme, clove, butter, pepper. 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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