Why it works: Turbot and sauce match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 248 recipes. Both carry ethanol, which smells alcoholic, ethereal. The science ↓
Turbot Au Bechamel, Or, in Bechamel Sauce
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the fish
Prepare the cold turbot, removing all skin.
Heat and dress
Heat the turbot in a rich béchamel sauce.
Serve in a vol-au-vent or deep dish with a border of fried bread cut elegantly.
Use alternating dark and light snippets for the border.
Top and brown
Cover the surface with a half-inch layer of well-drained, dried fried bread crumbs.
Alternatively, spread unfried bread crumbs over the fish, moisten with clarified butter, and brown with a salamander.
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.
-
Turbot + saucetop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together248 recipes
Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
-
Bread + buttertop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together27,232 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).
-
Sauce + buttertop 15% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together15,338 recipes
Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
-
Turbot + buttertop 21% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together372 recipes
Shared aroma: octanal (fat, soap).
-
Sauce + breadtop 22% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together4,934 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
- Rich béchamel sauce
- Forms a creamy, coating sauce that keeps the fish moist and rich.
- Clarified butter
- Moistens the bread crumbs and helps them brown evenly under the salamander.
- Bread crumbs
- Forms a crisp, golden topping that contrasts with the soft fish and sauce.
- Fried bread
- Provides a crisp, golden border and contrasting texture around the fish.
The step that matters
Drying the bread crumbs. Crumbs that are not well drained and dried will absorb moisture from the sauce and turn soggy instead of crisp under heat.
“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.
You might also like
Brown Bread461 recipes
White Bread80 recipes
Bread Omelette60 recipes
Oatmeal Bread51 recipesThe free Flavor Lab newsletter: one surprising pairing a week and the molecular reason it works, in 60 seconds. No spam, unsubscribe anytime.
Prefer an account? Create a free account to save pairings and unlock the full chemistry.