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Soup

Stock From Bones and Trimmings of Fish

A clear stock made by simmering fish bones, trimmings, onions, mushrooms, herbs, and lemon in water.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 9 ingredients
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Why it works: Parsley and lemon match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 14,037 recipes. Both carry beta-phellandrene, which smells minty, terpene. The science ↓

Stock From Bones and Trimmings of Fish

Ingredients

Directions

  1. Melt the butter in a saucepan.

  2. Add the onion slices, mushroom parings, basil, and parsley.

  3. Place the fish on top and add the lemon juice.

  4. Cover the saucepan and heat gradually, shaking often to prevent sticking.

  5. If using, add the Sauterne and let it reduce slightly.

  6. Add the cold water and cook for 20 to 30 minutes.

  7. Finish according to standard soup stock directions.

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 + lemontop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together14,037 recipes

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

  2. Basil + lemontop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,823 recipes

    Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).

  3. Basil + parsleytop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together2,351 recipes

    Shared aroma: myristicin (spice, warm).

  4. Butter + mushroomtop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together12,525 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-decenal (waxy, orange).

  5. Parsley + oniontop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together25,843 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).

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

What each ingredient does

Fish trimmings and bones
Provide the main body and gelatin-rich flavor that gives the stock its character.
Onions
Add sweetness and aromatic depth as they soften in the butter.
Butter
Carries the aromatics and helps extract their flavor at the start.
Lemon juice
Adds acidity that brightens the stock and balances the fish flavor.

The step that matters

Heat gradually and shake often. Covering and heating slowly, with frequent shaking, keeps the fish and vegetables from scorching on the pan base, which would give the stock a burnt, bitter taste.

Swap the onion

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (butter, mushroom, fish, basil, parsley, lemon):

  1. Shallotfits better
  2. Carrotfits better
  3. Tomatofits better
  4. Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against butter, mushroom, fish, basil, parsley, lemon. 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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