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Stewed Cod Fish, in Brown Sauce

A stewed cod fish finished in a brown sauce made with gravy, wine, vinegar, butter, and mace.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 10 ingredients
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Why it works: Port wine and vinegar work together. They rank in the top 11% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 598 recipes. Both carry 4-ethyl-2-methoxyphenol, which smells smoky, clove. The science ↓

Stewed Cod Fish, in Brown Sauce

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the fish

  1. Remove the skin from the fish and dust it well with flour.

  2. Fry the fish quickly in hot oil until golden brown, then drain on a sieve.

Stew the fish

  1. Place the fish in a clean stewpan and pour in enough boiling brown gravy to nearly cover it.

  2. Add the port wine or claret, chili vinegar or lemon juice, cayenne, and salt.

  3. Stew the fish gently until it just begins to break apart.

Finish and serve

  1. Carefully lift the fish onto a hot serving dish.

  2. In the gravy, mix the butter with flour and a little pounded mace, then bring to a boil.

  3. Pour the sauce over the fish and serve immediately.

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. Port wine + vinegartop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together598 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4-ethyl-2-methoxyphenol (smoky, clove).

  2. Fish + buttertop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,488 recipes

    Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).

  3. Flour + buttertop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together124,287 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  4. Port wine + buttertop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,499 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).

  5. Pepper + vinegartop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together27,814 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

Flour and butter 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

Cod fish
Forms the flaky main body of the dish, which softens and breaks apart as it stews.
Flour
Dusting helps the fish brown when fried; mixed with butter it thickens the sauce.
Butter
Adds richness and a smooth body to the sauce when worked with flour.
Port wine or claret
Adds depth and a fruity sweetness to the brown gravy.
Chili vinegar or lemon juice
Adds acidity that brightens the rich gravy and balances its sweetness.

The step that matters

Stew the fish gently until it just begins to break apart. Fish protein sets and toughens with prolonged or vigorous heat, and it flakes apart quickly. Gentle stewing keeps the pieces moist and intact, so stopping at the first sign of flaking gives the best texture.

Swap the mace

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (fish, flour, pepper, port wine, vinegar, butter):

  1. Tarragonfits better
  2. Parsleyfits better
  3. Capersfits better
  4. Macethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against fish, flour, pepper, port wine, vinegar, butter. 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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