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Bouillabaisse

A fish stew with mixed small fish, onions, tomatoes, carrot, spices, and wine.

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 ↓

Bouillabaisse

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare and cook

  1. In a stew-pan, combine the mixed fish, sliced onions, quartered tomatoes, and sliced carrot.

  2. Add the lime slices, cloves, peppercorns, garlic, lime peel, saffron, salt, and sliced capsicum.

  3. Pour in the salad oil and Chablis wine.

  4. Cook over medium heat until the fish is cooked through and flavors meld.

Serve

  1. Serve hot, garnished as desired.

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. Carrot + clovetop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together5,873 recipes

    Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).

  4. Tomato + carrottop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together3,606 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  5. Onion + carrottop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together21,601 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

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

What each ingredient does

Mixed small fish
Provides the main protein and body of the stew, releasing flavor into the broth as it cooks.
Tomatoes
Add acidity and body to the broth, balancing the richness of the oil and wine.
Salad oil
Carries fat-soluble flavors from the aromatics and saffron, and adds richness to the broth.
Chablis wine
Adds acidity and aromatic depth that helps lift the flavors of the fish and vegetables.
Saffron
Contributes aroma and a golden color to the broth.
Onions
Build sweetness and savory depth as they soften into the broth.

The step that matters

Cook over medium heat until the fish is cooked through. Fish is delicate and overcooks quickly, becoming dry and firm. Gentle, steady heat cooks the flesh evenly while letting the broth's flavors meld without breaking the fish apart.

Swap the clove

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (fish, whiting, onion, tomato, carrot, lime, garlic):

  1. Parsleyfits better
  2. Cuminfits better
  3. Thymefits better
  4. Clovethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against fish, whiting, onion, tomato, carrot, lime, garlic. 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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