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Boiled Turbot with Caper Sauce

A boiled turbot served with a butter and caper sauce.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 5 ingredients
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Why it works: Turbot and capers work together. They rank in the top 14% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 47 recipes. Both carry octanal, which smells fat, soap. The science ↓

Boiled Turbot with Caper Sauce

Ingredients

Directions

The book gives no cooking times; the times in the steps were added in transcription, so check for doneness rather than trusting the clock.

Poach the turbot

  1. Fill a large pot with water and add salt.

  2. Bring the water to a boil.

  3. Carefully add the turbot to the boiling water and cook until done, about 15-20 minutes.

Make the caper sauce

  1. In a small saucepan, melt the butter over low heat.

  2. Add the capers to the melted butter and stir gently.

Serve

  1. Once the turbot is cooked, remove it from the pot and place it on a serving platter.

  2. Drizzle the caper sauce over the turbot and serve immediately.

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. Turbot + caperstop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together47 recipes

    Shared aroma: octanal (fat, soap).

  2. Capers + buttertop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,637 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  3. Turbot + buttertop 21% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together372 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
Provides the main flesh, which firms and flakes as its proteins set during gentle cooking.
Capers
Add acidity and a briny, sharp flavour that cuts through the richness of the butter.
Butter
Adds fat and a smooth, rich texture that carries the flavour of the sauce.

The step that matters

Cooking the turbot until done. Fish proteins set quickly in boiling water, so the flesh turns dry and tough if it cooks past doneness. Checking early keeps it moist and tender.

“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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