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Soles or Eels, Stewed

A stewed fish dish using soles or eels simmered in beef gravy and thickened with flour, butter, mushroom catsup, and optional port wine.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 ingredients
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Why it works: Beef and mushroom are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 4% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 3,232 recipes. Both carry 2,4-nonadienal, which smells fatty, green. The science ↓

Soles or Eels, Stewed

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the fish

  1. If desired, first fry the fish until slightly browned, then drain from fat.

  2. Season the fish with salt and pepper, and cover with beef gravy.

Stew and finish

  1. Simmer gently for 15-20 minutes, depending on thickness, without overcooking.

  2. Carefully lift the fish with a spatula.

  3. Thicken the sauce with flour and butter, and add mushroom catsup and port wine if using.

  4. Simmer for 1-2 minutes, then strain the sauce over the fish.

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. Beef + mushroomtop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together3,232 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-nonadienal (fatty, green).

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

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

  3. Pepper + beeftop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together18,971 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  4. Mushroom + port winetop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together570 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

  5. Pepper + mushroomtop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together13,580 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

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

What each ingredient does

Soles or eels
Firm white fish that holds its shape while stewing in the gravy.
Beef gravy
Forms the savoury liquid that the fish cooks in and the sauce is built from.
Flour
Thickens the gravy into a smooth, coating sauce when cooked with butter.
Butter
Enriches the sauce with fat and helps the flour thicken it smoothly.
Mushroom catsup
Adds concentrated savoury, umami depth to the sauce.

The step that matters

Simmer gently for 15-20 minutes without overcooking. Fish proteins toughen and the flesh turns dry and flaky when boiled or overcooked. A gentle simmer cooks it through while keeping it tender and intact, so the timing should be matched to the thickness of the fish.

“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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