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Boiled Turbot

4 servings

Ingredients

• 1.25 kg turbot
• water (as needed)
• salted water (as needed)
• sorrel sauce or crayfish, shrimp, or creamed butter sauce (as needed)
• melted butter with mustard (as needed)

Instructions

1. Turbot is considered the king of all fish, with the head and tail often regarded as the finest parts.
2. After cleaning and gutting a 1-1.5 kg fish, and removing bile and blood, place it in fresh water for half an hour, then in salted water for the same duration.
3. Cook it either in a turbot kettle with a lifter or, if it is to remain whole, in a napkin in a pot, with the dark side facing down.
4. If the turbot is to be portioned, chop it into sizable pieces with a cleaver and hammer, keeping the head and tail whole.
5. Boil the fish for 15-20 minutes in salted water, skimming it as it cooks; you can test if it's done by pulling out a fin.
6. In spring, sorrel sauce pairs well; in other seasons, crayfish, shrimp, or creamed butter sauce.
7. Melted butter with mustard is also very popular.

Modernized from a treasured 19th-century German cookbook.