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Tench Stewed with Wine

A stew of tench simmered in stock and Madeira, seasoned with salt, pepper, bay leaf, and finished with a butter‑flour reduction.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
By Isabella Beeton · From a historical cookbook (Project Gutenberg) · 6 ingredients
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Tench Stewed with Wine

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare and stew

  1. Clean and crimp the tench.

  2. Carefully lay it in a stewpan with the stock, wine, salt, pepper, and bay leaf.

  3. Let it stew gently for ½ hour.

Make the sauce and serve

  1. Take it out, put it on a dish, and keep hot.

  2. Strain the liquor.

  3. Thicken it with butter and flour kneaded together, and stew for 5 minutes.

  4. If not perfectly smooth, squeeze it through a tammy, add a very little cayenne, and pour over the fish.

  5. Garnish with balls of veal forcemeat.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

12Calories
0 gProtein
0 gFat
2 gCarbs
What these numbers assume: 3 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Black Pepper1 tsp ground (2.3g)6
Cayenne1 tsp (1.8g)6
Salt1 tsp (6g)0

One typical portion per ingredient; the recipe's quantities are not counted. A rough guide only, not for medical or dietary planning.

By Isabella Beeton. Recipe from a historical cookbook (Project Gutenberg).

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. See the original page.

Explore the science

What each ingredient does

Tench (in the method)
The main fish, gently simmered so it stays moist and holds its shape.
Stock
Forms the savoury liquid that cooks the fish and becomes the base of the sauce.
Madeira
Adds wine flavour and aroma to the stewing liquor and the finished sauce.
Butter (in the method)
Adds richness and a smooth, glossy mouthfeel to the sauce.
Flour (in the method)
Its starch swells when heated, thickening the strained liquor into a sauce.

The step that matters

Thickening the strained liquor with butter and flour. Flour starch only thickens properly when heated in liquid, so the kneaded paste should be stirred into a simmering liquor. Stewing for the full 5 minutes cooks out the raw flour taste and lets the sauce settle to the right consistency. Straining first removes bits that would become lumps.

“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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