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Carp a LA Chambord

A carp baked with herbs, vegetables, and a mushroom sauce flavored with wine.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 10 ingredients
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Why it works: Mushroom and butter are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 12,525 recipes. Both carry trans-2-decenal, which smells waxy, orange. The science ↓

Carp a LA Chambord

Oven, in the book's wordsA moderate oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a moderate oven”. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Prepare the carp

  1. Dress the carp for baking.

  2. Remove the skin from the upper side.

  3. Lard it as directed in the Fricandeau of Veal recipe.

  4. Lay the carp in a dripping pan on a bed of herbs and vegetables.

  5. Season with salt and pepper.

  6. Bake for 30 minutes at 350°F (175°C).

Make the sauce

  1. In a saucepan, mix butter and flour over heat until bubbling.

  2. Gradually add ½ pint boiling water, stirring until smooth.

  3. Season the sauce with salt, white pepper, and nutmeg.

  4. Add mushrooms and wine.

  5. Simmer covered for 20 minutes.

Serve

  1. When the carp is done, transfer it to a platter.

  2. Pour the sauce over it.

  3. Garnish with parsley.

  4. Serve hot.

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. Mushroom + buttertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together12,525 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-decenal (waxy, orange).

  2. Pepper + nutmegtop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together13,015 recipes

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

  3. Mushroom + winetop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,632 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-methoxy-4-propylphenol (allspice, anise).

  4. Pork + mushroomtop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together3,875 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-methoxy-4-propylphenol (allspice, anise).

  5. Flour + nutmegtop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together18,623 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

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

What each ingredient does

Carp
Forms the main body of the dish, cooked gently in the oven until it flakes.
Larding pork
Adds fat strips that baste the fish from within, keeping it moist as it bakes.
Button mushrooms
Add earthy flavour and body to the sauce as they soften during simmering.
Wine
Adds acidity and aroma to the sauce, deepening its flavour as it simmers.
Butter
Enriches the sauce and, with flour, forms the roux that thickens it.
Flour
Thickens the sauce with butter to a smooth, body-giving consistency.

The step that matters

Make the sauce roux smooth. Cooking butter and flour together until bubbling cooks out raw flour taste, and adding boiling water gradually while stirring prevents lumps from forming.

Swap the white pepper

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (pork, mushroom, wine, butter, flour, pepper, nutmeg):

  1. Thymefits better
  2. Marjoramfits better
  3. Cinnamonfits better
  4. White pepperthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against pork, mushroom, wine, butter, flour, pepper, nutmeg. 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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