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Stewed Cod Fish, in Brown Sauce

A stewed cod fish finished in a brown sauce with port wine, vinegar, butter, and optional seasonings.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 14 ingredients
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Why it works: Pepper and beef are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 10% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 18,971 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓

Stewed Cod Fish, in Brown Sauce

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare and fry

  1. Remove the skin from the fish and dust it well with flour.

  2. Fry the fish quickly in a hot pan until golden brown, then drain on a sieve.

Stew and finish

  1. Place the fish in a clean stewpan and cover with boiling brown gravy.

  2. Add ½ cup of port wine or claret, 2 teaspoons of chili vinegar or juice of ½ lemon, cayenne, and salt to taste.

  3. Stew the fish gently until it begins to break apart.

  4. Carefully lift the fish onto a hot serving dish.

  5. In the gravy, stir in 1½ ounces of butter kneaded with 1 tablespoon of flour and a little pounded mace.

  6. Simmer the sauce for one minute, then pour it over the fish and serve immediately.

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. Pepper + beeftop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together18,971 recipes

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

  2. Port wine + vinegartop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together598 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4-ethyl-2-methoxyphenol (smoky, clove).

  3. Fish + buttertop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,488 recipes

    Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).

  4. Flour + buttertop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together124,287 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  5. Port wine + buttertop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,499 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).

Flour and butter 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

Flour
Forms a light coating that browns during frying and helps thicken the sauce.
Butter
Adds richness and body to the sauce, helping it turn smooth and glossy.
Port wine or claret
Adds acidity and depth of flavour to the brown gravy.
Chili vinegar or lemon juice
Adds sharp acidity that brightens the rich brown sauce.

The step that matters

Stew the fish gently until it begins to break apart. High heat or vigorous boiling toughens and dries the fish proteins, so gentle simmering keeps the flakes moist and tender while they soften.

Swap the mace

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (fish, flour, pepper, port wine, vinegar, butter, beef):

  1. Tarragonfits better
  2. Parsleyfits better
  3. Marjoramfits better
  4. Macethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against fish, flour, pepper, port wine, vinegar, butter, beef. 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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