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Stewed Trout

A stew of trout simmered with shallots, carrot, herbs, and port wine.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 11 ingredients
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Why it works: Thyme and parsley match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 9,057 recipes. Both carry cuminaldehyde, which smells Spicy, cumin. The science ↓

Stewed Trout

Ingredients

Directions

Make the stock

  1. Heat the butter with the chopped shallots, carrot, and parsley in a stewpan.

  2. Add the fish stock, cloves, herbs, and seasonings.

  3. Let the mixture simmer for 1 hour.

Poach the trout

  1. Clean and wash the trout.

  2. Tie the trout with broad strips to prevent breaking.

  3. Place the trout in the stewpan.

  4. Strain the stock over the trout.

  5. Add ⅓ cup port wine.

  6. Simmer gently until the fish is cooked, about 30 minutes.

  7. Carefully remove the strips from the fish.

Finish and serve

  1. Reduce the cooking stock.

  2. Pour the reduced stock over the trout.

  3. Serve with lemon.

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. Thyme + parsleytop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together9,057 recipes

    Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).

  2. Carrot + parsleytop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together8,053 recipes

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

  3. Basil + thymetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,768 recipes

    Shared aroma: terpineol (pine, woody).

  4. Shallot + parsleytop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together3,737 recipes

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

  5. Shallot + thymetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,476 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

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

What each ingredient does

Trout
Forms the main body of the dish, cooked gently until it flakes.
Fish stock
Provides the liquid that poaches the fish and carries flavour into the sauce.
Butter
Adds fat and richness to the base aromatics and the finished sauce.
Shallots
Build a mild, sweet onion-like aromatic base for the stock.
Port wine (in the method)
Adds sweetness and depth to the stock as it reduces.

The step that matters

Simmer gently until the fish is cooked. Fish proteins toughen and dry out at a hard boil, so a gentle simmer keeps the trout moist and tender while it cooks through.

Swap the clove

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (shallot, fish, butter, carrot, basil, thyme, parsley):

  1. Marjoramfits better
  2. Tarragonfits better
  3. Winter savoryfits better
  4. Clovethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against shallot, fish, butter, carrot, basil, thyme, 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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