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To Roast Sturgeon

Roasted sturgeon served with a gravy of flour, anchovy, sherry wine, citrus juice, herbs, onions, horseradish, and vinegar.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 14 ingredients
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Why it works: Butter and bread are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 27,232 recipes. Both carry delta-decalactone, which smells sweet, creamy. The science ↓

To Roast Sturgeon

Ingredients

Directions

Roast the fish

  1. Securely tie the sturgeon on a spit and roast it over a brisk fire.

  2. Baste constantly with butter.

  3. When nearly done, dredge with bread crumbs.

  4. It is done when the flakes begin to separate, about 30 minutes.

Make the gravy

  1. For the gravy, combine it with flour, anchovy, sherry wine, and citrus juice.

  2. Add salt, pepper, herbs, onions, horseradish, and vinegar to the gravy.

  3. Boil for a few minutes, then cool slightly and add the fish.

  4. Bring to a boil, then gently stew until the fish begins to break.

  5. Remove the fish and keep it warm.

  6. Strain the gravy, thicken with batter, and add nutmeg and lemon juice.

  7. Simmer until thickened, then pour over 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. Butter + breadtop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together27,232 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).

  2. Sturgeon + anchovytop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together43 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-ol (mushroom, earthy).

  3. Bread + anchovytop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,260 recipes

    Shared aroma: hexanol (green, fruity).

  4. Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together124,287 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  5. Butter + anchovytop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together3,697 recipes

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

Butter and flour barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 124,287 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.

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

What each ingredient does

Sturgeon
Is the main fish, cooked until its flakes begin to separate.
Butter
Basting fat that keeps the surface moist and promotes browning over the fire.
Bread crumbs
Dredged on near the end to form a light crust on the fish.
Flour
Thickens the gravy base so it coats the fish.
Sherry wine
Adds acidity and depth of flavor to the gravy.
Onions
Add savory sweetness and body to the gravy as it simmers.

The step that matters

Gently stewing the fish in the gravy. Fish protein sets and toughens with prolonged or vigorous heat, so it should be held at a gentle simmer until it just begins to break and flake.

Swap the orange

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sturgeon, butter, bread, flour, anchovy, sherry, wine):

  1. Lemonfits better
  2. Applefits better
  3. Plumfits better
  4. Orangethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against sturgeon, butter, bread, flour, anchovy, sherry, wine. 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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