Skip to main content
Main

Court Bouillon for Fish

A broth of vinegar, herbs, and spices used to poach fish.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 12 ingredients
Jump to recipe ↓

Why it works: Carrot and parsley match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 8,053 recipes. Both carry 2,4-decadienal, which smells seaweed. The science ↓

Court Bouillon for Fish

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Place the fish in a large pot and cover it with cold water.

  2. Add vinegar, carrots, onions, and garlic.

  3. Tie sweet herbs, spices, and bay leaf in a muslin bag.

  4. Add the muslin bag to the pot with pepper, salt, and parsley.

Cook and serve

  1. Cook the fish until done.

  2. Pour in a jugful of cold water.

  3. Do not remove the fish until ready to serve.

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. Carrot + parsleytop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together8,053 recipes

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

  2. Onion + garlictop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together29,058 recipes

    Shared aroma: furaneol (caramel, strawberry).

  3. Pepper + parsleytop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together34,122 recipes

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

  4. Garlic + parsleytop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together9,308 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

  5. Clove + peppertop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together17,451 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).

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

What each ingredient does

Fish
Is the main ingredient that is gently cooked in the flavoured liquid.
Vinegar
Adds acidity that brightens the broth and helps give the fish a clean flavour.
Carrots
Add sweetness and body to the broth as they cook.
Onions
Add savoury depth and aroma to the broth.

The step that matters

Cook the fish until done. Fish cooks quickly and its flesh turns dry and tough if overcooked, so it should be checked early. Leaving it in the hot liquid after cooking keeps it warm and can continue to firm it, which is why the fish is kept in the broth until serving.

Swap the clove

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (fish, vinegar, carrot, onion, garlic, pepper, parsley):

  1. Thymefits better
  2. Marjoramfits better
  3. Tarragonfits better
  4. Clovethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against fish, vinegar, carrot, onion, garlic, pepper, parsley. 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.

You might also like

Carrot SoupCarrot Soup134 recipesFried FishFried Fish120 recipesFish CroquettesFish Croquettes81 recipesScalloped CodScalloped Cod69 recipes