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Fish Chuwdek

A stew of fish, potatoes, onions, salt pork, milk, and butter.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 ingredients
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Why it works: Potato and onion are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 3% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 9,023 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓

Fish Chuwdek

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the stew

  1. Fry the salt pork and onions in a pan until browned.

  2. Add the diced potatoes to the same pan.

  3. Pour boiling water over the pork and onions to cover the potatoes, add salt, and cook until the potatoes are done.

Finish and serve

  1. Stir in the milk and bring to a boil.

  2. Add the diced fish and cook for about 10 minutes or until the fish is done.

  3. Just before serving, stir in the butter.

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. Potato + oniontop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together9,023 recipes

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

  2. Potato + porktop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,668 recipes

    Shared aroma: sotolon (curry, maple).

  3. Milk + buttertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together81,283 recipes

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

  4. Potato + peppertop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together8,305 recipes

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

  5. Potato + milktop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together3,611 recipes

    Shared aroma: (e,z)-2,6-nonadienal (cucumber, melon).

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

What each ingredient does

Fish
Provides the main protein and flakes into the stew as it cooks.
Potatoes
Absorb liquid and thicken the stew, giving it body and substance.
Salt pork
Renders fat that browns the onions and adds savory flavor to the base.
Milk
Adds creaminess and a mild sweetness to the broth.
Butter
Adds richness and a smooth finish when stirred in at the end.

The step that matters

Adding the milk and fish. Once milk is brought to a boil, it can curdle or scorch on the bottom of the pan. Keep the heat controlled, and add the fish only after the milk is hot so it cooks gently without breaking apart.

Swap the onion

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (fish, potato, pork, milk, butter, pepper):

  1. Capsicumfits better
  2. Tomatofits about as well
  3. Asparagusfits about as well
  4. Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against fish, potato, pork, milk, butter, pepper. 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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