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Water Souchy

A Dutch fish soup made with flounder or perch, water, wine or vinegar, and seasoned with pepper, salt, and mace.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
By Eliza Leslie · From a historical cookbook (Project Gutenberg) · 10 ingredients
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Why it works: Parsley and pepper match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 34,122 recipes. Both carry 4'-methylacetophenone, which smells bitter almond. The science ↓

Water Souchy

Ingredients

Directions

Make the stock

  1. Cut up four flounders (or half a dozen perch), two onions, and a bunch of parsley.

  2. Put the cut fish, onions, and parsley into three quarts of water.

  3. Boil until the fish disintegrates.

  4. Strain the liquid through a sieve.

  5. Transfer the strained liquid to a kettle or stew-pan.

Poach the fish

  1. Prepare additional fish with heads, tails, fins removed and skin removed.

  2. Cut small notches in the additional fish.

  3. Briefly immerse the notched fish in very cold water.

  4. Add the notched fish to the stew-pan with the strained liquid.

  5. Season with pepper, salt, and mace.

  6. Add half a pint of white wine or two tablespoons of vinegar.

  7. Boil gently for 15 minutes.

  8. Skim the soup.

Finish and serve

  1. Boil sliced parsley roots until very tender.

  2. Boil parsley leaves until green.

  3. After 15 minutes, remove the fish-pan from heat.

  4. Add parsley roots to the soup.

  5. Add a little mushroom catchup.

  6. Remove fish from the stew-pan and place in a deep dish or tureen.

  7. Pour soup gently over the fish.

  8. Sprinkle green parsley leaves over the top.

  9. Prepare plates of bread and butter for serving.

  10. Optionally omit wine or vinegar, and flavor with anchovy essence or other fish sauces before serving.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

79Calories
2 gProtein
0 gFat
13 gCarbs

Counts 6 of 8 ingredients. The other 2 aren't in our nutrition table and add nothing above, so the real totals are higher.

What these numbers assume: 6 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Onion1 medium (110g)44
Wine2 tbsp cooking wine (30ml)25
Black Pepper1 tsp ground (2.3g)6
Vinegar1 tbsp (15ml) distilled3
Parsley1 tbsp chopped fresh (3.8g)1
Salt1 tsp (6g)0
Waternot in our table0
Macenot in our table0

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

By Eliza Leslie. 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

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 + peppertop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together34,122 recipes

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

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

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

  3. Onion + peppertop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together68,474 recipes

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

  4. White wine + vinegartop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,776 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).

  5. White wine + oniontop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,535 recipes

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

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

What each ingredient does

Flounders
Break down during boiling to give the stock body and fish flavor.
Onions
Add sweetness and savory depth to the stock as they cook.
Parsley
Adds a fresh, herbal aroma to the stock and garnish.
White wine
Adds acidity and a brighter flavor to the broth.
Vinegar
Adds sharp acidity that brightens the broth in place of wine.
Mace
Adds a warm, aromatic spice note to the soup.

The step that matters

Boil gently for 15 minutes. Once the notched fish is in the stock, a hard boil can break the delicate flesh apart and cloud the broth. A gentle simmer cooks the fish through while keeping it intact and the liquid clear.

Swap the mace

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (parsley, white wine, onion, vinegar, pepper):

  1. Thymefits better
  2. Garlicfits better
  3. Tarragonfits better
  4. Macethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against parsley, white wine, onion, vinegar, pepper. 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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