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Sturgeon, Roasted

Roasted sturgeon wrapped in bacon and herbs, served with a brown sauce matelote.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 17 ingredients
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Why it works: Pepper and carrot match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 6% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 14,555 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓

Sturgeon, Roasted

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the fish

  1. Clean and skin the sturgeon, then season it with coarse sea salt and black pepper.

  2. Wrap the fish with thin slices of fat bacon.

  3. Butter a large piece of writing paper. Layer sliced carrots, onions, and powdered sweet herbs on the paper.

  4. Wrap the fish in the paper. Tie two more buttered sheets around it securely with tape.

Roast and make the sauce

  1. Roast the wrapped sturgeon on a spit over a clear fire until cooked through.

  2. Combine ½ pint of brown sauce, fried button onions, mushrooms, and claret in a saucepan. Boil gently for 10 minutes.

  3. Add a pinch of pepper, nutmeg, sugar, and essence of anchovy. Remove from heat. Stir in a small lump of butter until dissolved.

Serve

  1. Serve the sturgeon with the sauce poured over it and additional sauce in a tureen.

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. Pepper + carrottop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together14,555 recipes

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

  2. Carrot + oniontop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together21,601 recipes

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

  3. Butter + mushroomtop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together12,525 recipes

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

  4. Carrot + mushroomtop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,796 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

  5. Onion + mushroomtop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together10,626 recipes

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

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

What each ingredient does

Sturgeon
Is the main protein; it cooks through in the wrapping and becomes the centre of the dish.
Fat bacon
Bastes the fish with melting fat, keeping the lean flesh moist and adding savoury flavour.
Brown sauce
Forms the base of the sauce, supplying body and a rich, savoury coating for the fish.
Claret
Adds acidity and depth to the sauce, balancing its richness.
Mushrooms
Add earthy flavour and a tender texture to the sauce.
Butter
Finishes the sauce, giving it a glossy texture and rounded flavour.

The step that matters

Roasting the wrapped sturgeon until cooked through. The paper and bacon shield the fish from direct heat, so it cooks gently and stays moist. Because the wrapping hides the flesh, a cook can misjudge doneness, and fish that is undercooked is unsafe while overcooked fish turns dry and firm.

Swap the carrot

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sturgeon, fish, pepper, butter, onion, sauce, mushroom):

  1. Shallotfits better
  2. Capsicumfits better
  3. Potatofits about as well
  4. Carrotthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against sturgeon, fish, pepper, butter, onion, sauce, mushroom. 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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