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Entree of Turbot Baked

A baked turbot stuffed with force‑meat, topped with egg white and breadcrumbs, served with a sauce of cullis, anchovy essence, Madeira wine, butter, and lemon.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 9 ingredients
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Why it works: Turbot and anchovy match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 4% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 110 recipes. Both carry 1-octen-3-ol, which smells mushroom, earthy. The science ↓

Entree of Turbot Baked

Ingredients

Directions

The book gives no oven temperature. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.

Prepare the fish

  1. Fill the cavity near the head of the cleaned turbot with seasoned force-meat.

  2. Brush the best side of the turbot with egg white and sprinkle with breadcrumbs.

Bake and make the sauce

  1. Bake gently at 350°F (175°C) until browned.

  2. For the sauce, mix cullis, anchovy essence, Madeira wine, butter, and lemon juice over low heat until well combined.

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 + anchovytop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together110 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-ol (mushroom, earthy).

  2. Egg + anchovytop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,330 recipes

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

  3. Meat + anchovytop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together335 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-ol (mushroom, earthy).

  4. Anchovy + buttertop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together3,697 recipes

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

  5. Anchovy + lemontop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,080 recipes

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

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

What each ingredient does

Turbot
Forms the main body of the dish, cooking to a flaky, moist texture.
Egg white
Binds the breadcrumbs to the fish surface so they stay in place.
Fine breadcrumbs
Form a crisp, golden crust when baked.
Cullis
Provides the rich, savoury base of the sauce.
Madeira wine
Adds sweetness and depth of flavour to the sauce.
Fresh butter
Adds richness and a smooth, glossy texture to the sauce.

The step that matters

Baking gently until browned. Low, steady heat cooks the fish through without drying it out, while the egg white and breadcrumb crust brown evenly. Too much heat would toughen the flesh before the crust colours.

“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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