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
Clean the halibut by wiping it with a cheesecloth wrung out of cold water.
Place the halibut in a strainer over a kettle of boiling water, cover closely, and keep the water boiling until the fish is done.
The fish is cooked when the flesh leaves the bone.
Make the sauce
For the sauce, melt 3/4 tablespoon butter, add 3/4 tablespoon flour, and mix well.
Gradually pour in 1/2 cup boiling water while stirring constantly.
Season with salt, then add 3/4 tablespoon butter in small pieces and the sliced hard boiled egg.
Serve
Remove the fish to a hot serving dish, take off the outside skin, and pour around drawn butter sauce.
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.
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Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Flour + eggtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together106,462 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Butter + eggtop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked 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
- Forms the main body of the dish; gentle steaming keeps its flesh moist and tender.
- Butter
- Enriches the sauce and adds richness and a smooth, silky mouthfeel.
- Flour
- Thickens the butter and water into a smooth sauce as it cooks together with the fat.
- Hard boiled egg
- Adds soft texture and mild flavor to the finished butter sauce.
The step that matters
Keep the water boiling while steaming the fish. Steam only cooks the fish evenly while the water keeps boiling and the lid stays closed, so the flesh cooks through without drying. Letting the water drop slows cooking and can leave the fish unevenly done.
“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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