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Gravy for Baked Fish

A gravy made from fish drippings, browned flour, water or stock, Bovril, Worcestershire sauce or ketchup, vinegar from capers, and capers.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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Why it works: Flour and capers match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 6% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,024 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓

Gravy for Baked Fish

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the fish

  1. Remove the cooked fish from the baking dish.

  2. Place the fish on a hot serving dish.

Make the gravy

  1. Pour the drippings from the baking dish into a saucepan.

  2. Add the browned flour to the saucepan.

  3. Pour in enough water or stock from the fish trimmings to create a sauce.

  4. Add Bovril to taste for color and flavor.

  5. Stir in Worcestershire sauce or ketchup.

  6. Bring the mixture to a boil.

  7. Add vinegar from bottled capers.

  8. Add chopped capers.

Serve

  1. Strain the gravy around the fish.

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. Flour + caperstop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,024 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  2. Sauce + caperstop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together678 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  3. Fish + caperstop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together165 recipes

    Shared aroma: octanal (fat, soap).

  4. Vinegar + caperstop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,453 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  5. Flour + saucetop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together8,078 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

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

What each ingredient does

Fish drippings
Carry the savory fat and flavor that form the base of the gravy.
Browned flour
Thickens the liquid so the gravy coats the fish and clings to it.
Water or stock from fish trimmings
Provides the liquid that turns the roux-thickened base into a sauce.
Bovril
Adds deep savory flavor and a darker color to the gravy.
Worcestershire sauce or ketchup
Adds tangy, savory depth that balances the richness of the drippings.
Vinegar from bottled capers
Adds acidity that brightens the gravy and sharpens the flavor.

The step that matters

Bring the mixture to a boil. Flour only thickens fully when the liquid reaches a boil, so the gravy can stay thin or taste raw if it is not heated enough.

“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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