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Stewed Fish

A lightly seasoned fish stew cooked with milk, water, butter, bread crumbs, and parsley.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 ingredients
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Why it works: Butter and bread are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 27,232 recipes. Both carry delta-decalactone, which smells sweet, creamy. The science ↓

Stewed Fish

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the fish

  1. Wipe the fish with a damp cloth and cut it into small, neat pieces.

  2. Rinse a clean lined saucepan with water to prevent sticking, then place the fish pieces inside.

  3. Sprinkle salt and white pepper over the fish, then pour in the milk and cold water.

Cook and make the sauce

  1. Cover the pan and cook the fish slowly by the side of the fire for 10 to 15 minutes, being careful not to overcook.

  2. Transfer the fish to a serving plate and keep it warm.

  3. Add the bread crumbs and butter to the remaining liquid in the pan, stirring over heat until the sauce thickens.

  4. Stir in the chopped parsley and pour the sauce over the fish before serving.

Serve

  1. Wipe the edges of the dish 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. Butter + breadtop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together27,232 recipes

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

  2. Butter + milktop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together81,283 recipes

    Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).

  3. Fish + breadtop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,668 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-undecenal (sweet).

  4. Bread + milktop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together11,466 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-undecenal (sweet).

  5. Fish + buttertop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,488 recipes

    Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).

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

What each ingredient does

Fish fillets
Provide the main body of the dish, cooked gently until flaky and tender.
Milk
Cooks the fish gently and forms the base of the sauce, adding creaminess.
Bread crumbs
Thicken the cooking liquid into a light sauce that clings to the fish.
Butter
Adds richness and fat to the sauce, giving it a smooth finish.

The step that matters

Cooking the fish slowly. Fish proteins toughen and dry out when overheated, so gentle, low heat keeps the flesh moist and tender. Overcooking also makes the delicate fillets fall apart.

Swap the white pepper

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (fish, butter, parsley, bread, milk):

  1. Capersfits better
  2. Nutmegfits better
  3. Thymefits better
  4. White pepperthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against fish, butter, parsley, bread, milk. 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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