Why it works: Lemon and parsley 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 ↓
Boiled Turbot
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare and cook
Choose a very white and fine skin turbot.
Rub the juice of a lemon over the fish.
Slit the skin at the back to prevent breaking.
Put the turbot into boiling water with salt one hour before dinner.
Boil the fish fast at first, then reduce the heat.
If done early, lift the steamer out and keep it warm with a cloth.
Serve
Dish the turbot on a fish napkin and garnish with fried smelts, horseradish, and parsley.
Serve with caper sauce or anchovy sauce.
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.
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Lemon + parsleytop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together14,037 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).
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Turbot + saucetop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together248 recipes
Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
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Smelt + saucetop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together103 recipes
Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
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Turbot + smelttop 2% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together26 recipes
Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
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Horseradish + parsleytop 6% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together562 recipes
Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).
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 whole so its firm, white flesh turns flaky and moist.
- Lemon juice
- Adds a bright acidity that lifts the mild flavour of the white fish.
The step that matters
Boil the fish fast at first, then reduce the heat. A brief hard boil starts cooking the fish quickly, then gentler heat keeps the flesh tender and stops it toughening or breaking apart. Slitting the skin lets it relax as it cooks rather than splitting.
“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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