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To Boil a John Dory

A boiled John Dory fish served with lobster coral and lobster sauce, finished with plain melted butter.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 4 ingredients
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Why it works: Lobster and sauce are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 6% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,095 recipes. Both carry ethanol, which smells alcoholic, ethereal. The science ↓

To Boil a John Dory

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Prepare the John Dory by cleaning and gutting it.

Cook and serve

  1. Boil the fish until cooked through.

  2. Sprinkle lobster coral, passed through a fine sieve, over the fish after plating.

  3. Serve with lobster sauce and plain melted butter.

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. Lobster + saucetop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,095 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  2. Fish + buttertop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,488 recipes

    Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).

  3. Sauce + buttertop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together15,338 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  4. Fish + lobstertop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together326 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-one (mushroom, metallic).

  5. Lobster + buttertop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,609 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,6-nonadienal (cucumber, green).

Sauce and butter 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

John dory fish
The main protein, which is cooked whole by boiling until it is cooked through.
Lobster coral
Adds a rich, delicate lobster flavour and colour when sprinkled over the cooked fish.
Lobster sauce
Adds a savoury, shellfish-based flavour and moisture to accompany the fish.
Plain melted butter
Adds richness and fat that complements the mild flavour of the fish.

The step that matters

Boil the fish until cooked through. Fish protein sets as it heats, and overcooking makes it dry and firm. Boiling gently and checking for flakiness helps keep the flesh moist and tender.

“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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