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Fish Stock

A clear broth made by simmering fish, vegetables, and herbs in water.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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Why it works: Onion and carrot are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 6% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 21,601 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓

Fish Stock

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Chop the fish and place it in a pot with the other ingredients.

Simmer and strain

  1. Add the water and bring to a simmer for 2 hours.

  2. Skim the surface to remove impurities and strain the stock.

Optional richer stock

  1. For a richer stock, fry the vegetables before adding the water.

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. Onion + carrottop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together21,601 recipes

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

  2. Beef + oniontop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together17,092 recipes

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

  3. Lemon + carrottop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together3,351 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).

  4. Beef + carrottop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together6,606 recipes

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

  5. Beef + fishtop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together226 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-undecenal (sweet).

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

What each ingredient does

Trimmings of fish
Provides the core fish flavor that defines the stock.
Onions
Adds savory sweetness and aroma, especially when fried first.
Carrots
Adds gentle sweetness and body to the stock.
Lemon
Adds acidity that brightens the flavor of the stock.
Beef
Adds richness and depth of flavor; optional in this recipe.

The step that matters

Skim the surface. Impurities that rise during simmering can cloud the stock and taint its flavor, so removing them keeps the stock clear and clean-tasting.

Swap the lemon

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (beef, fish, onion, carrot):

  1. Coconutfits better
  2. Limefits about as well
  3. Lemonthe original
  4. Avocadofits about as well

Fit is the average pairing score against beef, fish, onion, carrot. 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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