Why it works: Sauce and butter are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 15% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 15,338 recipes. Both carry ethanol, which smells alcoholic, ethereal. The science ↓
John Dory
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Scrape off the slime from the John Dory skin.
Boil and serve
Boil the fish in cold water for about 20 minutes until done.
Serve with Dutch sauce and sprinkle with chopped parsley.
Other methods
For baking, proceed as for turbot, adding parsley and serving with Dutch sauce.
For broiling, dry the fish, season with salt, and wrap in paper before broiling.
Serve with cold butter or melted butter.
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.
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Sauce + buttertop 15% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together15,338 recipes
Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
-
Parsley + buttertop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together28,563 recipes
Shared aroma: trans-2-hexenal (green, leafy).
-
Parsley + saucetop 23% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together6,693 recipes
Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
Sauce and butter barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 15,338 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- John dory
- Provides the firm, mild white flesh that is the main component of the dish.
- Dutch sauce
- Adds richness and a smooth, buttery moisture to the fish.
- Butter
- Adds richness and moisture when served cold or melted over the fish.
The step that matters
Boil the fish in cold water for about 20 minutes until done.. Starting the fish in cold water and heating it gently helps the flesh cook evenly and stay moist. Overcooking makes the delicate white flesh dry and tough, so checking for doneness matters.
Swap the parsley
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sauce, butter):
- Capersfits better
- Tarragonfits about as well
- Parsleythe original
- Nutmegfits about as well
Fit is the average pairing score against sauce, butter. 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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