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Halibut Steak, Baked

Baked halibut steaks topped with breadcrumb and butter stuffing.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 10 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 ↓

Halibut Steak, Baked

Ingredients

Directions

The book gives no oven temperature. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.

Prepare

  1. Wash and thoroughly dry the halibut steaks with a towel.

  2. Make stuffing by mixing breadcrumbs, butter, onion juice, parsley, cayenne, black pepper, nutmeg, and salt.

Assemble and bake

  1. Place one steak in a baking pan and spread the stuffing over it.

  2. Top with the second steak, add small pieces of butter on top, and dust with salt and pepper.

  3. Bake at 400°F (200°C) until golden brown, about 30 minutes.

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. Parsley + nutmegtop 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. Onion + parsleytop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together25,843 recipes

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

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

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

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

What each ingredient does

Halibut steaks
Form the main body of the dish and cook into flaky, tender layers.
Breadcrumbs
Form the stuffing that absorbs juices and adds a soft, bready texture.
Butter
Adds richness and moisture, and helps the topping brown in the oven.
Onion juice
Adds savory, aromatic flavor to the stuffing.

The step that matters

Bake at 400°F until golden brown. Fish is delicate and overcooks quickly, becoming dry and firm. Checking for flakiness at the early end of the time helps keep the steaks moist while the topping browns.

Swap the onion

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (butter, parsley, pepper, nutmeg):

  1. Carrotfits better
  2. Shallotfits better
  3. Parsnipfits better
  4. Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against butter, parsley, pepper, nutmeg. 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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