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Turbot.

A simple fish dish of turbot simmered in brine and milk, served with a sweet oil sauce and parsley garnish.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 ingredients
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Why it works: Pepper and parsley match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 34,122 recipes. Both carry 4'-methylacetophenone, which smells bitter almond. The science ↓

Turbot.

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the fish

  1. Clean the turbot and remove the gills.

Poach

  1. In a large stewpan, combine brine and milk to cover the fish.

  2. Simmer gently until the fish feels soft under your finger.

Make the sauce and serve

  1. Heat sweet oil in a stewpan, adding salt, pepper, and vinegar without boiling.

  2. Serve the fish dry on a napkin, garnished with green parsley.

  3. Pour the sauce over the fish before serving.

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. Pepper + parsleytop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together34,122 recipes

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

  2. Pepper + vinegartop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together27,814 recipes

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

  3. Vinegar + parsleytop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together6,477 recipes

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

  4. Milk + peppertop 22% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together26,984 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl 2-methylbutyrate (fruity, apple).

  5. Turbot + parsleytop 24% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together264 recipes

    Shared aroma: octanal (fat, soap).

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

What each ingredient does

Turbot
Is the main protein; gentle simmering keeps its flesh tender and moist.
Milk
Mild liquid that gives the poaching bath a softer, creamier flavour.
Sweet oil
Carries the seasonings into the sauce and adds richness to the finished dish.
Vinegar
Adds a sharp acidity that brightens the oil-based sauce.

The step that matters

Simmer gently until the fish feels soft under your finger. Boiling toughens and dries delicate fish proteins, while gentle heat cooks them evenly and keeps the flesh moist. Check by touch, since overcooked fish becomes rubbery and flakes apart.

Swap the parsley

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (turbot, milk, pepper, vinegar):

  1. Parsleythe original
  2. Dillfits about as well
  3. Tarragonfits about as well
  4. Thymefits about as well

Fit is the average pairing score against turbot, milk, pepper, vinegar. 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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