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Sturgeon, Stewed

Stewed sturgeon with shallots, carrot, mushrooms, veal broth, claret, and a sauce thickened with butter and flour.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 13 ingredients
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Why it works: Shallot and mushroom are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 4% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,982 recipes. Both carry 2,4-decadienal, which smells seaweed. The science ↓

Sturgeon, Stewed

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the fish

  1. Steep the sturgeon slices in vinegar for a while.

  2. Dry the slices, then dip them in flour.

  3. Heat butter in a covered stewpan and brown the fish on both sides.

Make the stew

  1. Remove the fish and add shallots, diced carrot, and mushrooms to the pan.

  2. Brown the vegetables, then add veal broth, claret, and salt and pepper.

  3. Return the sturgeon to the pan and let it stew for over an hour.

Finish and serve

  1. Remove the fish to a dish and strain the sauce from the vegetables.

  2. Thicken the sauce with flour rolled in butter and add a spoonful of sharp sauce.

  3. Pour the sauce over the fish on the dish.

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. Shallot + mushroomtop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,982 recipes

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

  2. Flour + shallottop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together2,081 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  3. Butter + mushroomtop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together12,525 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-decenal (waxy, orange).

  4. Shallot + carrottop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together803 recipes

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

  5. Carrot + mushroomtop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,796 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

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

What each ingredient does

Sturgeon
Firm fish that holds its shape through long, gentle stewing.
Flour
Coats the fish so it browns in the butter and helps thicken the sauce.
Butter
Fat for browning the fish and vegetables, adding rich flavour to the sauce.
Veal broth
Forms the liquid base of the sauce and carries savoury meaty flavour.
Claret
Adds acidity and depth of flavour to the stewing liquid.
Shallots
Add a mild, sweet onion-like aroma as they soften and brown.

The step that matters

Browning the fish before stewing. Browning the floured slices in butter builds colour and savoury flavour through the Maillard reaction. Patting them dry first lets the surface brown rather than steam, and the fish keeps its shape during the long stew.

Swap the carrot

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sturgeon, vinegar, flour, butter, shallot, mushroom, veal):

  1. Chivefits better
  2. Leekfits better
  3. Cucumberfits better
  4. Carrotthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against sturgeon, vinegar, flour, butter, shallot, mushroom, veal. 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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