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Turbot Farci, Glace Aufour

A whole turbot stuffed with fish forcemeat and sweet herbs, glazed and baked with white wine.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 11 ingredients
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Why it works: Pepper and parsley match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 34,122 recipes. Both carry 4'-methylacetophenone, which smells bitter almond. The science ↓

Turbot Farci, Glace Aufour

Oven, in the book's wordsA slow oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a slow oven”. The 300°F (150°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Prepare the fish

  1. Prepare the turbot by removing the flesh from the bone, keeping the skin whole.

  2. Season the fish with salt, pepper, and nutmeg, then cover with an inch of forcemeat mixed with sweet herbs.

  3. Replace the upper side of the fish to restore its shape.

  4. Place the fish on a well-buttered drainer and brush with melted butter.

  5. Sprinkle with salt, pepper, and grated nutmeg, then add the white wine.

Cook and glaze

  1. Boil over high heat for 2 hours, then cover and transfer to a 300°F (150°C) oven.

  2. Baste every 10 minutes with its own juices.

  3. After 1.5 hours, glaze the fish and return to the oven for 15 minutes.

  4. Strain the cooking liquid through a silk sieve and reduce to a light glaze.

  5. Mix the glaze with a white Italian sauce and fresh butter before serving.

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. Pepper + parsleytop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together34,122 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

  2. Nutmeg + parsleytop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together5,062 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

  3. Pepper + nutmegtop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together13,015 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

  4. Parmesan cheese + white winetop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together697 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl isobutyrate (fruity, ethereal).

  5. Butter + white winetop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together5,083 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).

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, holding the forcemeat and cooking as a whole fish.
Forcemeat of fish
Fills the cavity and gives a moist, tender stuffing as the fish cooks.
White wine
Adds moisture and acidity to the cooking liquid, which is reduced into the glaze.
Butter
Adds richness and moisture, and helps the skin and surface brown lightly.
Parmesan cheese
Adds savory, salty flavor and helps form a browned, flavorful crust on the glaze.

The step that matters

Basting and glazing the fish. Basting with its own juices keeps the delicate flesh moist during the long oven cook, and the glaze must be reduced to a light consistency so it coats without becoming gluey.

Swap the nutmeg

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (turbot, pepper, fish, butter, parmesan cheese, white wine, parsley):

  1. Thymefits better
  2. Capersfits better
  3. Fennelfits better
  4. Nutmegthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against turbot, pepper, fish, butter, parmesan cheese, white wine, 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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