Why it works: Mushroom and butter are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 12,525 recipes. Both carry trans-2-decenal, which smells waxy, orange. The science ↓
Fish Stew
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the fish
Place the sole and fish fillets in a casserole or shallow earthenware cooking vessel.
Add the mussels with a little of their liquor and the button mushrooms.
Cook until almost done, then drain off the sauce.
Arrange the mussels and mushrooms around the fish.
Make the sauce and finish
Strain the sauce and thicken it with the egg yolk.
If there isn't enough sauce, add a little strong clear stock thickened with butter and flour.
Cover the vessel and cook for 2-3 minutes longer, then serve very hot.
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.
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Mushroom + buttertop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together12,525 recipes
Shared aroma: trans-2-decenal (waxy, orange).
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Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Egg + flourtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together106,462 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Egg + buttertop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together118,967 recipes
Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).
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Mushroom + flourtop 18% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together8,253 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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
- Egg yolk
- Thickens the strained sauce as it gently sets, giving it a smooth, rich body.
- Butter
- Adds richness and fat, and with flour forms a roux that thickens the extra stock.
- Flour
- Works with butter to form a roux that thickens the stock for extra sauce.
- Mussels
- Release savoury liquor that flavours the sauce while they cook alongside the fish.
The step that matters
Thickening the sauce with egg yolk. Egg yolk thickens when heated gently, but if the sauce gets too hot it can curdle or scramble. Keep the heat low and stir steadily while adding the yolk.
“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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