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Red Mullet

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 ingredients
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Why it works: Shallot and mushroom are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 4% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,982 recipes. Both carry 2,4-decadienal, which smells seaweed. The science ↓

Red Mullet

Oven, in the book's wordsA moderately hot oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a moderately hot oven”. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

  1. Remove the gills from the red mullet, keeping the trail intact if fresh.

  2. Wrap each fish in buttered paper and place on a baking tray.

  3. Bake in a preheated oven at 400°F (200°C) for about 1 hour.

  4. For the sauce, mix chopped shallot or onion, chopped mushroom, and fine herbs in brown sauce, then dilute with a glass of Chablis wine.

  5. Serve the fish in the buttered paper with the Italian sauce.

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. Shallot + mushroomtop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,982 recipes

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

  2. Butter + mushroomtop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together12,525 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-decenal (waxy, orange).

  3. Mushroom + winetop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,632 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-methoxy-4-propylphenol (allspice, anise).

  4. Butter + winetop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together8,645 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-furfurylthiol (coffee, roasted).

  5. Shallot + winetop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together841 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-heptenal (green).

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

Swap the shallot

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (butter, mushroom, sauce, wine):

  1. Shallotthe original
  2. Tomatofits about as well
  3. Capsicumfits less well
  4. Potatofits less well

Fit is the average pairing score against butter, mushroom, sauce, wine. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

More red mullet recipes

Baked 18Roasted 16Grilled 7Broiled 4 See all 27 →

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