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To Boil Flounders

A simple boiled flounder served with melted butter and optional parsley.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 ingredients
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Why it works: Parsley and pepper 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 ↓

To Boil Flounders

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Wash and clean the flounders thoroughly.

  2. Cut the back side of the flounders as you would for turbot.

Boil

  1. Place the flounders in a fish kettle with plenty of cold water and ½ cup of coarse sea salt.

  2. Bring the water to a boil, then skim the surface clean.

  3. Let the flounders sit by the side of the fire for five minutes.

Serve

  1. Serve with plain melted butter and a little salt.

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. Parsley + peppertop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together34,122 recipes

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

  2. Bread + buttertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together27,232 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).

  3. Parsley + oniontop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together25,843 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).

  4. Onion + peppertop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together68,474 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  5. Onion + buttertop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together42,912 recipes

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

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

What each ingredient does

Flounders
The main fish; its firm, delicate flesh cooks gently in the simmering water and flakes when done.
Coarse sea salt
Seasons the cooking water so the fish is lightly flavoured as it poaches.
Butter
Adds richness and fat to the finished fish, balancing its lean flesh.

The step that matters

Letting the flounders sit by the fire. Once the water boils, the fish keeps cooking in residual heat. Holding it at a gentle, not rolling, temperature keeps the flesh tender and prevents it from breaking apart or turning tough.

Swap the parsley

The recipe marks parsley as optional. How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (onion, pepper, bread, butter):

  1. Parsleythe original
  2. Garlicfits about as well
  3. Thymefits about as well
  4. Sagefits less well

Fit is the average pairing score against onion, pepper, bread, butter. 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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