Name: Stew of Cold Boiled Soles, Turbot, Prill, Plaice, Flounder, or Other Flat Fish
Ingredients: cold boiled fish (Soles, Turbot, Prill, Plaice, Flounder); salt; flour; beef gravy; 2 tablespoons port wine; 1 tablespoon mushroom ketchup; a pinch of cayenne

Why it works: Turbot and ketchup share more aroma than cooks usually use. They rank in the top 4% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 11 recipes. Both carry ethanol, which smells alcoholic, ethereal. The science ↓

Stew of Cold Boiled Soles, Turbot, Prill, Plaice, Flounder, or Other Flat Fish

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the fish

Slice and bone the fish, then rub it with salt and flour.

Make the sauce

Heat the beef gravy gently in a pan.
Thicken the gravy by mixing in a little flour until it resembles cream.
Stir in the port wine, mushroom ketchup, and cayenne gradually.
Bring the sauce to a boil, then strain it over the fish.

Serve

Carefully remove the fish and place it on a serving 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.

Turbot + ketchuptop 4% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together11 recipes

Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
Beef + mushroomtop 4% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together3,232 recipes

Shared aroma: 2,4-nonadienal (fatty, green).
Port wine + mushroomtop 10% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together570 recipes

Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
Fish + mushroomtop 12% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together444 recipes

Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-one (mushroom, metallic).
Flour + ketchuptop 13% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together2,435 recipes

Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

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

What each ingredient does

Cold boiled fish: Forms the body of the dish; its flesh is the main element served.
Flour: Thickens the gravy so the sauce clings to the fish.
Beef gravy: Forms the savoury base of the sauce.
Port wine: Adds sweetness and depth of flavour to the sauce.
Mushroom ketchup: Adds concentrated savoury, umami flavour to the sauce.

The step that matters

Stirring in the port wine, mushroom ketchup, and cayenne gradually. Adding the flavourings slowly and tasting as you go keeps the sauce balanced, since cayenne is strong and too much can overpower the delicate fish. Adding liquids gradually into a thickened gravy also helps keep it smooth rather than lumpy.

“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.

Roast Beef211 recipes

Beef Loaf175 recipes

Fried Fish120 recipes

Corned Beef87 recipes

Like knowing why a recipe works?

The free Flavor Lab newsletter: one surprising pairing a week and the molecular reason it works, in 60 seconds. No spam, unsubscribe anytime.

Prefer an account? Create a free account to save pairings and unlock the full chemistry.

Stew of Cold Boiled Soles, Turbot, Prill, Plaice, Flounder, or Other Flat Fish