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Turbot

A whole turbot cooked in vinegar and water, served with a sauce of butter, anchovies, capers, herbs, and spices.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 20 ingredients
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Why it works: Thyme and parsley match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 9,057 recipes. Both carry cuminaldehyde, which smells Spicy, cumin. The science ↓

Turbot

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the fish

  1. Wash and cleanse the turbot thoroughly.

  2. Rub vinegar over it to firm the flesh.

  3. Place the fish belly up in a pot and cover tightly with a cloth.

Poach the turbot

  1. Boil gently in salted water with vinegar.

  2. Skim the surface to prevent discoloration.

  3. Add the fish only when the water is boiling.

  4. Once cooked, drain and carefully remove the cloth.

  5. Transfer the fish to a serving dish, being cautious not to break it.

Make the sauce and serve

  1. In a saucepan, melt the butter and add anchovies, capers, chives, pepper, salt, nutmeg, flour, vinegar, and a little water. Shake the saucepan over heat until combined and hot.

  2. Pour some sauce over the fish and serve the rest in a separate dish.

  3. Garnish with horseradish.

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. Thyme + parsleytop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together9,057 recipes

    Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).

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

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

  3. Thyme + peppertop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together11,585 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

  4. Thyme + oniontop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together11,171 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

  5. White wine + buttertop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together5,083 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).

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

What each ingredient does

Turbot
Is the main fish, whose firm flesh holds its shape during gentle poaching.
Butter
Forms the rich, smooth base of the sauce, adding fat and a silky texture.
Anchovies
Add a salty, savoury depth to the butter sauce.
Capers
Add a sharp, briny acidity that cuts through the rich butter.
Flour
Thickens the butter sauce so it clings to the fish.

The step that matters

Adding the fish only when the water is boiling. Plunging the turbot into water that is already boiling sets the outer proteins quickly, helping the flesh stay firm and intact. Gentle simmering afterwards keeps it from breaking apart.

Swap the onion

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (turbot, vinegar, thyme, parsley, white wine, pepper, butter):

  1. Shallotfits better
  2. Leekfits about as well
  3. Capsicumfits about as well
  4. Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against turbot, vinegar, thyme, parsley, white wine, pepper, 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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