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Perche Grillee- -broiled Perch

Broiled perch stuffed with fish forcemeat, olives, anchovies, cooked with carrots, onions, fish stock, port wine, herbs, and finished with brown sauce, butter, lemon juice.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 15 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 ↓

Perche Grillee- -broiled Perch

Oven, in the book's wordsA moderate oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a moderate oven”. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Prepare

  1. Split open the porgies and remove the spine.

  2. Stuff the porgies with fish forcemeat, adding chopped olives and fillets of anchovies.

  3. Tie the porgies with string and place them over sliced carrots and onions.

Bake and baste

  1. Moisten with half fish stock and half port wine, and add a bundle of herbs.

  2. Cook in a moderate oven at 350°F (175°C), basting the fish constantly.

Finish and serve

  1. When done, drain the fish and place it on a dish.

  2. Strain the fish stock and reduce it with brown sauce until thickened.

  3. Season to taste, then finish with a pat of butter and lemon juice.

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. Olive + lemontop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together11,922 recipes

    Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).

  3. Olive + oniontop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together29,779 recipes

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

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

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

  5. Olive + carrottop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together5,861 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

Porgies
Form the main body of the dish, holding the stuffing while the fish cooks through.
Fish forcemeat
Provides a soft, moist stuffing that sets as it cooks and fills the cavity.
Fillets of anchovies
Add a salty, savory depth that seasons the stuffing from within.
Chopped olives
Contribute briny flavor and a touch of richness to the stuffing.
Port wine
Adds sweetness and aromatic depth to the cooking liquid, which later reduces into the sauce.
Brown sauce
Thickens the reduced fish stock and adds body and color to the finished sauce.

The step that matters

Basting the fish constantly while it cooks. Frequent basting keeps the surface moist and prevents the thin fish from drying out, while the liquid in the pan builds flavor for the sauce.

Swap the lemon

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (fish, olive, carrot, onion, port wine, sauce, butter):

  1. Plumfits about as well
  2. Lemonthe original
  3. Figfits about as well
  4. Coconutfits about as well

Fit is the average pairing score against fish, olive, carrot, onion, port wine, sauce, 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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