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Matelote Bourgeoise

A French fish stew with fish pieces, onions, mushrooms, and a buttery sauce.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 15 ingredients
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Why it works: Parsley and thyme match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and 9,057 recipes mention both. Both carry cuminaldehyde, which smells Spicy, cumin. The science ↓

The recipe

Ingredients

Contains: milk, wheat, fish, shellfish (auto-detected from the ingredients and method; we can miss things, so check labels)

Directions

Prepare the fish

  1. Scale and gut the fish, then cut them into pieces.

  2. In a saucepan, place the bouquet garni, cloves, and garlic.

  3. Add the fish on top, then pour in the red wine and fish stock.

  4. Season with salt and pepper, and bring to a boil over high heat for 20 minutes.

Make the sauce

  1. In another saucepan, melt the butter and sauté the onions until golden.

  2. Add the flour and stir, then pour in the strained cooking liquid from the fish.

  3. Add the mushrooms, vinegar or lemon juice, and a little water.

Serve

  1. Once the sauce is reduced and the onions are cooked, arrange the fish on a platter.

  2. Cover the fish with the sauce and garnish with fried croutons and crayfish.

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 aroma chemistry they share, and how many recipes mention both.

  1. Parsley + thymetop 1% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together9,057 recipes

    Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).

  2. Parsley + peppertop 2% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together34,118 recipes

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

  3. Chive + garlictop 2% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together1,148 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

  4. Thyme + peppertop 3% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together11,585 recipes

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

  5. Thyme + clovetop 3% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together3,210 recipes

    Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).

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

What each ingredient does

Fish
Provides the main protein, which firms and flakes as it cooks in the wine and stock.
Red wine
Adds acidity and depth of flavour to the cooking liquid for the stew.
Butter
Adds richness and helps the onions brown gently in the saucepan.
Flour
Thickens the strained cooking liquid into a smooth sauce.
Onions
Add sweetness as they turn golden and soften in the butter.
Mushrooms
Add earthy flavour and body to the sauce.

The step that matters

Thickening the sauce with flour. Flour must be stirred into the melted butter and cooked briefly before adding liquid, otherwise it stays lumpy and tastes raw. Stirring in the strained liquid gradually keeps the sauce smooth as it reduces.

Flavor stand-ins for the chive

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (fish, parsley, thyme, clove, garlic, red wine, pepper):

  1. Tomatobetter flavor fit
  2. Carrotbetter flavor fit
  3. Potatobetter flavor fit
  4. Chivethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against fish, parsley, thyme, clove, garlic, red wine, pepper. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes. This compares flavor only: it does not check the job the ingredient does in the dish (bulk, moisture, acidity, structure).

“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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