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 ↓
Turbot with Wine
Ingredients
Directions
The book says “a slack oven”. The 300°F (150°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.
Prepare the fish
Wash and sponge the turbot well, then cut off its fins and make an incision along its black side.
Grease a baking sheet with butter and sprinkle the chopped onions and mushrooms on the bottom.
Place the turbot on top with the white side facing up.
Season the turbot.
Moisten the turbot with white wine.
Cover the turbot with buttered paper.
Bake and serve
Bake in a 300°F (150°C) oven for nearly an hour, basting with its own cooking stock.
Once cooked, carefully remove the turbot using a lid from a stewpan.
Transfer the turbot to a serving dish.
Make the sauce
Add a little wine to the cooking stock.
Thicken the stock with kneaded butter.
Bring the sauce to a simmer.
Finish the sauce with lemon juice, parsley, and a large piece of butter.
Pour the sauce over the turbot.
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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Mushroom + white winetop 5% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,765 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity).
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Mushroom + buttertop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together12,525 recipes
Shared aroma: trans-2-decenal (waxy, orange).
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White wine + buttertop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together5,083 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).
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Onion + parsleytop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together25,843 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
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, cooked gently until flaky and tender.
- Mushrooms
- Release moisture and flavour into the cooking stock beneath the fish.
- Onions
- Add aromatic sweetness to the cooking stock as they soften during baking.
- White wine
- Adds acidity and moisture, and flavours the cooking stock and sauce.
- Butter
- Enriches the sauce and thickens it when kneaded in, adding richness and body.
The step that matters
Thicken the stock with kneaded butter. Whisking flour-free butter into hot stock while it simmers emulsifies it into a smooth, glossy sauce. Adding it to a boiling stock too fast can cause the butter to separate and the sauce to look greasy.
Swap the onion
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (turbot, mushroom, white wine, butter, lemon, parsley):
- Shallotfits better
- Leekfits better
- Chivefits better
- Onionthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against turbot, mushroom, white wine, butter, lemon, parsley. 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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