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Sturgeon, Stewed

Stewed sturgeon in a Madeira and veal stock sauce, served with 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 ↓

Sturgeon, Stewed

Oven, in the book's wordsA moderate oven

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the fish

  1. Soak the sturgeon slices in strong vinegar for 5 minutes.

  2. Drain and dry the slices with a cloth.

  3. Dip the slices in flour.

  4. Fry the slices in hot fat until lightly browned on both sides.

Stew and serve

  1. In a saucepan, combine veal stock and Madeira to barely cover the fish.

  2. Cover the saucepan and simmer the fish gently for 1 hour.

  3. Place the slices on a dish, sprinkle with capers, pour the sauce around them, and 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. Flour + caperstop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,024 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

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

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  3. Veal + caperstop 19% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together198 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-methylbutyraldehyde (malty, chocolate).

  4. Sturgeon + vealtop 20% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together38 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,6-nonadienal (cucumber, green).

  5. Sturgeon + caperstop 21% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together24 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

Sturgeon
Firm white fish that holds its shape through frying and long gentle simmering.
Flour
Forms a dry coating that browns during frying and helps thicken the sauce slightly.
Veal stock
Provides savoury body and meaty depth to the simmering liquid around the fish.
Madeira
Adds sweetness and aromatic depth to the sauce as it reduces with the stock.
Capers
Add a sharp, briny acidity that cuts through the rich sauce.

The step that matters

Frying until lightly browned on both sides. Browning the floured surface creates flavour through the Maillard reaction and gives the slices a coating that holds up during simmering. Fat that is hot enough sears the coating quickly instead of letting it absorb oil and go soggy.

“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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