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Fish Stew

A fish stew made with sliced fish, lobster, onions, leeks, tomato, garlic, parsley, saffron, bay leaf, and oil, served over toast.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 14 ingredients
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Why it works: Onion and garlic match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 29,058 recipes. Both carry furaneol, which smells caramel, strawberry. The science ↓

Fish Stew

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Cut the fish into slices and place in a deep casserole with the split lobster.

  2. Add onions, leeks, tomato, garlic, parsley, saffron, bay leaf, and oil.

  3. Pour in enough cold water to cover the ingredients and season with salt and pepper.

Cook and serve

  1. Bring to a boil over high heat and cook for about 15 minutes.

  2. Prepare a round deep dish with 6 pieces of toast.

  3. Pour the fish stew over the toast and decorate with lobster pieces.

  4. 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. Onion + garlictop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together29,058 recipes

    Shared aroma: furaneol (caramel, strawberry).

  2. Tomato + garlictop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together14,076 recipes

    Shared aroma: furaneol (caramel, strawberry).

  3. Garlic + parsleytop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together9,308 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

  4. Onion + leektop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,326 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl butyrate (apple, fruity).

  5. Leek + garlictop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together150 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

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

What each ingredient does

Fresh fish
Forms the body of the stew and flakes into tender pieces as it cooks.
Lobster
Adds rich, sweet seafood flavor to the broth and serves as a garnish.
Onions
Build a sweet, savory base that flavors the broth as they soften.
Leeks
Contribute a mild, sweet onion flavor to the base of the stew.
Tomato
Adds acidity and body to the broth.
Saffron
Gives the stew its distinctive golden color and aroma.

The step that matters

Bring to a boil over high heat. Cooking fish at a rolling boil can break it apart and toughen the flesh. Watching the heat and timing helps keep the fish intact while the broth flavors develop.

Swap the clove

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (fish, lobster, onion, leek, tomato, garlic, parsley):

  1. Capersfits better
  2. Thymefits better
  3. Tarragonfits better
  4. Clovethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against fish, lobster, onion, leek, tomato, garlic, parsley. 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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