Name: Turbot
Ingredients: 1 whole turbot, fresh and cleaned; 2 pints salt water; 2 pints milk; 2-3 lemons, cut into pieces, without skins and seeds

Why it works: Milk and lemon are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 15% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 19,053 recipes. Both carry 2-nonenal, which smells fatty, green. The science ↓

Turbot

Ingredients

1 whole turbot, fresh and cleaned
2 pints salt water
2 pints milk
2-3 lemons, cut into pieces, without skins and seeds

Directions

Prepare the fish

Gut and wash the turbot thoroughly.
Make a 3-4 inch cut along the back, closer to the head, then raise the flesh on both sides and cut the fins to match the opening.

Cook

Rub the fish with lemon and place it in a turbot kettle.
Add salt water, milk, and lemon pieces.
Bring to a boil over high heat.

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.

Milk + lemontop 15% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together19,053 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Turbot + milktop 28% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together79 recipes

Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-ol (mushroom, earthy).
Turbot + lemontop 28% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together273 recipes

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

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

What each ingredient does

Milk: Gives the poaching liquid richness and a mellow, creamy body that softens the fish's flavour.
Lemons: Adds acidity and bright aroma that cut through the richness of the milk and the fish.