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Soup

Fish Stock

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

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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Why it works: Carrot and onion 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. Clean and slice the vegetables.

  2. Put all ingredients in a saucepan.

Simmer and strain

  1. Simmer gently for 2 hours.

  2. Skim and strain the broth.

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

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

  2. Carrot + lemontop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together3,351 recipes

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

  3. Fish + lemontop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together1,889 recipes

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

  4. Fish + oniontop 19% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together1,924 recipes

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

  5. Onion + lemontop 19% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together15,646 recipes

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

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

What each ingredient does

Bones and trimmings of raw fish
Release flavour and gelatin into the water, giving the stock its savoury taste and body.
Carrots
Add gentle sweetness and aromatic depth to the broth.
Onions
Contribute sweetness and savoury aroma as they soften in the liquid.
Cold water
Acts as the solvent that slowly draws flavour out of the bones and vegetables.
Sweet herbs
Infuse the broth with fragrant aromatic notes.

The step that matters

Simmer gently, do not boil. A rolling boil agitates fat and proteins into the liquid, making the stock cloudy and greasy. Gentle heat keeps it clear, and skimming removes the impurities that rise to the surface.

Swap the lemon

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

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

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