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Sturgeon En Matelote Normande

Baked sturgeon served with a sauce of anchovy, malt vinegar, sugar, champignons, and capers.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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Why it works: Anchovy and sauce are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,057 recipes. Both carry ethanol, which smells alcoholic, ethereal. The science ↓

Sturgeon En Matelote Normande

Ingredients

Directions

The book gives no oven temperature. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.

Prepare the sturgeon

  1. Preheat the oven to 400 °F (200 °C).

  2. Coat the sturgeon with glaze and place it in the oven until it is bright and glossy.

Make the sauce

  1. In a saucepan, combine the juice from the sturgeon, anchovy sauce, malt vinegar, and sugar.

  2. Skim any grease or scum from the sauce and stir it over low heat until it thickens.

  3. Strain the sauce through a clean cloth into a smaller saucepan.

  4. Add the champignons and capers to the sauce and let them simmer until the sturgeon is ready.

Serve

  1. Skim the sauce again and pour it around the sturgeon before serving.

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. Anchovy + saucetop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,057 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  2. Anchovy + caperstop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together473 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-methylbutyraldehyde (malty, chocolate).

  3. Sturgeon + anchovytop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together43 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-ol (mushroom, earthy).

  4. Sauce + caperstop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together678 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  5. Sturgeon + saucetop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together93 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

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

What each ingredient does

Sturgeon
Forms the main body of the dish and provides the flesh that is glazed and baked.
Anchovy sauce
Adds salty, savory depth to the sauce.
Malt vinegar
Adds acidity that sharpens the sauce and balances its richness.
Champignons
Add earthy flavor and soft texture to the sauce.
Capers
Add a sharp, briny bite to the sauce.

The step that matters

Thickening and straining the sauce. Skimming grease and scum and straining through cloth removes impurities, giving a clear, smooth sauce. Stirring over low heat helps it thicken evenly without scorching or lumps forming.

“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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