Why it works: Onion and mustard match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 6% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 9,259 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓
How to Stew Fish
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the fish
Soak the fish in water and let it drain to remove excess salt.
Boil the fish gently until cooked through, then flake it with a fork and remove all bones.
Boil the onions until tender, then chop them.
Slice the hard-boiled eggs.
Make the stew
In a bowl, mix butter rolled in flour and mustard with the onions and eggs.
Combine this mixture with the fish and add milk and cream.
Simmer gently for about 30 minutes.
Serve
Transfer to a serving dish, top with sliced hard-boiled egg, and garnish with lemon slices.
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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Onion + mustardtop 6% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together9,259 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Milk + buttertop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together81,283 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
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Cream + buttertop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together41,516 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
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Fish + buttertop 12% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together4,488 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
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Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 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
- Fish
- Forms the main body of the stew and provides its substance once flaked.
- Hard-boiled eggs
- Add body and richness, and their sliced whites and yolks give texture to the dish.
- Milk
- Provides liquid and a mild, creamy base that carries the flavours together.
- Cream
- Adds fat and richness, giving the sauce a smoother, silkier mouthfeel.
- Flour
- Thickens the liquid as it heats, giving the stew a light body rather than a watery one.
- Butter
- Adds fat and flavour, and when rolled in flour helps the thickening blend in smoothly.
The step that matters
Simmer gently for about 30 minutes. Milk and cream can curdle or scorch if they boil hard, and flour thickens unevenly at high heat. A gentle simmer keeps the sauce smooth and cooks the fish through without breaking it apart.
Swap the mustard
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (fish, onion, egg, milk, cream, butter, flour):
- Potatofits better
- Leekfits better
- Chivefits better
- Mustardthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against fish, onion, egg, milk, cream, butter, flour. 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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