Why it works: White wine and sherry match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 307 recipes. Both carry 2-isobutyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells green bell pepper, earthy. The science ↓
Shad Roe
Ingredients
Directions
The book gives no oven temperature. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.
Prepare
Place the shad roes in a lightly buttered skillet.
Add white wine, sherry, butter, salt, pepper, and nutmeg.
Cover the skillet with lightly buttered paper.
Cook the roes
Cook over medium heat for 5 minutes.
Transfer the skillet to a preheated oven at 350°F (175°C) for 30 minutes.
Carefully remove the roes from the skillet and place them on a large dish.
Make the sauce and serve
In the skillet, add cream, a little salt, and cayenne.
Bring the mixture to a boil for 5 minutes.
Beat the egg yolks with 2 tablespoons of cream, then stir the beaten yolks into the sauce while heating for 3 minutes.
Strain the sauce over the roes.
Serve.
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.
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White wine + sherrytop 2% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together307 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isobutyl-3-methoxypyrazine (green bell pepper, earthy).
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Pepper + nutmegtop 7% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together13,015 recipes
Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
-
Butter + creamtop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together41,516 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
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White wine + buttertop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together5,083 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).
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Nutmeg + creamtop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together7,920 recipes
Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Shad roes
- The main protein; it cooks gently to a tender, delicate texture in the wine and butter.
- Egg yolks (in the method)
- Thicken the cream sauce as they heat, giving it a smooth, rich body.
- Cream
- Adds richness and moisture, and combines with the yolks to form the sauce.
- White wine
- Adds acidity and aromatic flavor that moistens the roes while they cook.
- Butter
- Adds fat and richness, carrying flavor and keeping the roes from drying out.
The step that matters
Stirring the beaten yolks into the sauce. Egg yolks can scramble if the sauce is too hot or they are added too fast. Adding them gradually while heating gently lets them thicken the cream smoothly.
Swap the nutmeg
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (roe, white wine, sherry, butter, pepper, cream):
- Thymefits about as well
- Parsleyfits about as well
- Nutmegthe original
- Tarragonfits about as well
Fit is the average pairing score against roe, white wine, sherry, butter, pepper, cream. 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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