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Turbot, to Boil

A boiled turbot served with parsley, lemon, horseradish, and sauces.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 10 ingredients
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Why it works: Parsley and lemon match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 14,037 recipes. Both carry beta-phellandrene, which smells minty, terpene. The science ↓

Turbot, to Boil

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Ensure the kettle for boiling the turbot is the correct size and clean.

  2. Place the turbot in cold water, covering it completely.

Boil

  1. Add a handful of coarse sea salt and ⅓ cup vinegar.

  2. Bring the water to a gradual boil, skimming off any impurities.

Serve

  1. Serve the fish garnished with curled parsley, lemon, and horseradish.

  2. Serve lobster sauce, anchovy butter, and plain butter in separate tureens.

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 + lemontop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together14,037 recipes

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

  2. Turbot + saucetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together248 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  3. Turbot + lobstertop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together163 recipes

    Shared aroma: octanal (fat, soap).

  4. Parsley + horseradishtop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together562 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

  5. Lobster + saucetop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,095 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

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

What each ingredient does

Turbot
Is the main fish, poached gently so its delicate flesh stays moist and flakes cleanly.
Vinegar
Adds a mild acidity to the poaching water, helping to firm the fish and keep it white.
Plain butter
Served alongside as a rich fat that complements the mild, delicate flavour of the fish.

The step that matters

Bringing the water to a gradual boil. Boiling too hard agitates the fish and can break up the delicate flesh, while a gentle heat cooks it evenly. Skimming removes impurities that would cloud the liquid and the fish.

“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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