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To Boil a John Dory

A boiled fish dish served with lobster coral, lobster sauce, and 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

  1. Boil the John Dory as you would a turbot.

  2. Once cooked, sprinkle lobster coral that has been passed through a fine sieve over the fish.

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

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  3. 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
Firm, flaky flesh forms the main body of the dish once it is cooked through.
Lobster coral
Adds a rich shellfish flavour and a bright colour to the fish.
Lobster sauce
Adds richness and moisture alongside the mild fish.
Melted butter
Adds fat and a smooth, rich mouthfeel to the plain fish.

The step that matters

Boil the John Dory as you would a turbot.. Fish proteins toughen and dry out when overheated. Keeping the water at a gentle simmer and checking for doneness early helps the flesh stay moist and flake cleanly.

“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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