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A turbot boiled in a brine of coarse sea salt and saltpetre, served with lobster sauce, melted butter, and dressed cucumber.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 9 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 ↓

Modern Cookery

Ingredients

Directions

Poach the fish

  1. In a kettle, cover the turbot with cold spring water.

  2. Add ½ cup of coarse sea salt and 1 teaspoon of saltpetre.

  3. Bring the water to a slow boil, skimming off any scum that rises.

  4. Simmer the fish until done, about 15-20 minutes for a medium fish or 20-30 minutes for a large one.

  5. Carefully lift the fish out, drain, and place it on a hot dish.

Serve

  1. Serve immediately with rich lobster sauce, melted butter, and dressed cucumber.

  2. Garnish with lemon slices and curled parsley if desired.

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

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  5. Cucumber + parsleytop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,564 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-hexenal (green, leafy).

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, cooked gently in the salted water until just done and flaky.
Coarse sea salt
Seasons the fish and water as it poaches, flavouring the flesh throughout.
Rich lobster sauce
Adds richness and savoury flavour that complements the mild, delicate fish.
Melted butter
Adds fat and richness to the mild fish, carrying flavour across each bite.

The step that matters

Simmer, don't boil, the fish. A slow simmer cooks the flesh evenly and keeps it moist and tender. A hard, rolling boil toughens the proteins and can break the fish apart, so the water should stay below a vigorous boil.

Swap the cucumber

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (turbot, lobster, sauce, butter, parsley, lemon):

  1. Shallotfits better
  2. Chivefits better
  3. Horseradishfits better
  4. Cucumberthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against turbot, lobster, sauce, butter, parsley, lemon. 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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