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Sturgeon, Roast

A whole sturgeon stuffed with suet, bacon, butter, herbs, parsley, bread crumbs, and egg, then roasted.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 13 ingredients
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Why it works: Parsley and nutmeg match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 3% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 5,062 recipes. Both carry 4'-methylacetophenone, which smells bitter almond. The science ↓

Sturgeon, Roast

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Wash and skin the sturgeon, then remove the bones.

  2. Stuff the cavity with a mixture of suet, bacon, butter, herbs, parsley, salt, nutmeg, cayenne, and bread crumbs. Add a shredded onion if desired. Mix in the egg until smooth.

  3. Roll the stuffing in buttered paper and secure it tightly with tape.

Roast and serve

  1. Roast the sturgeon in a Dutch oven over a hot fire for about 1 hour.

  2. Serve with melted butter or rich brown gravy.

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. Parsley + nutmegtop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together5,062 recipes

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

  2. Butter + breadtop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together27,232 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).

  3. Bread + eggtop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together22,662 recipes

    Shared aroma: (e)-2-octenal (fatty, green).

  4. Nutmeg + breadtop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together5,997 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

  5. Butter + parsleytop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together28,563 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-hexenal (green, leafy).

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, cooked whole and moist inside its stuffing.
Suet
Adds fat that keeps the stuffing moist and rich as it cooks.
Bacon
Contributes fat and savory flavor that seasons the stuffing from within.
Bread crumbs
Absorb the fats and juices, giving the stuffing body and a soft texture.
Egg
Binds the stuffing so it holds together when rolled and roasted.

The step that matters

Securing the stuffed roll. Tight wrapping in buttered paper and tape holds the stuffing in place and keeps moisture in the fish during roasting. A loose wrap lets stuffing escape and the fish dry out.

Swap the parsley

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sturgeon, butter, nutmeg, bread, egg):

  1. Parsleythe original
  2. Cinnamonfits about as well
  3. Capersfits about as well
  4. Clovefits less well

Fit is the average pairing score against sturgeon, butter, nutmeg, bread, egg. 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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