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Steamed Halibut

A halibut fillet steamed and served with a butter‑flour sauce and sliced hard‑boiled egg.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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Why it works: Butter and flour are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 12% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 124,287 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓

Steamed Halibut

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the fish

  1. Clean the halibut by wiping it with a cheesecloth dampened with cold water.

  2. Place the halibut in a strainer over a kettle of boiling water.

  3. Cover closely.

  4. Keep the water boiling until the fish is done.

  5. Remove the outer skin.

  6. Transfer to a hot serving dish.

Make the sauce

  1. Melt 3/4 tablespoon of butter.

  2. Add 3/4 tablespoon of flour and mix well.

  3. Gradually pour in 1/2 cup of boiling water while stirring constantly.

  4. Season with salt.

  5. Add 3/4 tablespoon of butter in small pieces.

  6. Add the sliced hard-boiled egg.

Serve

  1. Pour drawn butter sauce around the halibut.

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. Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together124,287 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  2. Flour + eggtop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together106,462 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  3. Butter + eggtop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together118,967 recipes

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

Butter and flour barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 124,287 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

Halibut
Is the main protein, cooked gently by steam until it turns flaky and opaque.
Butter
Adds richness and a smooth, silky mouthfeel to the sauce.
Flour
Thickens the melted butter into a roux that gives the drawn butter sauce body.
Hard-boiled egg
Adds soft, mild richness and texture to the sauce.

The step that matters

Keep the water boiling until the fish is done. Steam only cooks the fish while the water keeps boiling; if the water drops, the fish cooks unevenly and slowly. Covering the pan closely traps the steam so heat stays constant.

“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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