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Fillet of Turbot Au Parmesan

Fillet of turbot topped with Parmesan sauce and grated Parmesan, baked and finished under a salamander.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 4 ingredients
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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 ↓

Fillet of Turbot Au Parmesan

Ingredients

Directions

The book gives no oven temperature. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.

Prepare

  1. Skin, wash, and fillet the turbot into six 3-inch square pieces.

Bake

  1. Bake the fillets in butter at 400°F (200°C) for about 12 minutes.

Finish and serve

  1. Place the fillets in an entree dish and cover with Parmesan sauce.

  2. Sprinkle a little grated Parmesan on top.

  3. Lightly brown with a salamander and serve.

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

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  2. Butter + saucetop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together15,338 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  3. Turbot + buttertop 21% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together372 recipes

    Shared aroma: octanal (fat, soap).

Butter and sauce 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

Turbot
Provides the main flaky white fish that holds its shape while baking.
Butter
Adds moisture and richness while the fillets bake in the oven.
Parmesan sauce
Adds creamy richness and savoury flavour, and coats the fish.
Grated parmesan
Melts and browns on top, adding savoury flavour and a golden crust.

The step that matters

Lightly browning under the salamander. Cheese and sauce brown quickly under intense heat. Browning comes from the Maillard reaction, which adds flavour, but the top can scorch and turn bitter before the fish is heated through. Watch it closely and remove it once golden.

“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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