Turbotin Commodore

Turbotin Commodore (whole young turbot with its five-part garnish) teaches orchestration. Every element is manageable alone, but the dish lives or dies by whether the turbot, potatoes, crayfish, quenelles, croquettes, oysters, and sauce arrive together. The one true thing to know before touching a pan is this: prepare everything before the fish begins to poach.

The original service assumed a poissonnier at the turbot kettle, a saucier with fish stock never off the fire, another pair of hands at the frying pan, and a salamander ready for dishes that needed its fierce top heat. This one does not, so we won't invent a gratin. At home, an oval roasting pan becomes the fish kettle, a heavy saucepan becomes the frying station, and one fish velouté foundation divides into three distinct finishes. Separate saucepots and formal crayfish trussing were brigade scaffolding; the salted-water poach, five garnishes per person, oyster à la Villeroy, and sauce Normande finished with anchovy butter are the dish, and they stay.

Four naturally curled cooked crayfish replace the banquet trussing, and the garnish is scaled exactly to four diners: three potato balls, one crayfish, one fish quenelle, one lobster croquette, and one Villeroy oyster each. Once the breaded garnishes are chilled, the velouté is divided, and the potatoes are cut, the final service becomes one cook, one stove, one evening. Don't lower the turbot into its water before you reach that point.