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Fish Stock

A clear broth made by simmering fish bones, trimmings, onion, carrot, herbs, and water.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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Why it works: Onion and carrot are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 6% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 21,601 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓

Fish Stock

Ingredients

Directions

  1. Combine fish bones and trimmings with the liquor in a pot.

  2. Add water, onion, carrot, and herbs.

  3. Simmer for 2 hours, skimming occasionally.

  4. Strain the stock before using.

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

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

  2. Fish + oniontop 19% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together1,924 recipes

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

  3. Fish + carrottop 22% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together315 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

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

What each ingredient does

Fish bones and trimmings
Release gelatin and collagen during simmering, giving the stock body and a silky mouthfeel.
Liquor from boiled fish
Adds concentrated fish flavor from the start of the stock.
Onion
Contributes savory, sweet depth as it softens and releases its flavor into the liquid.
Carrot
Adds gentle sweetness and rounds out the savory flavors.

The step that matters

Simmer gently and skim. Keep the liquid at a bare simmer rather than a rolling boil. Vigorous boiling emulsifies fat and fine particles into the liquid, making the stock cloudy and greasy. Skimming removes the foam and impurities that rise to the surface, so the finished stock stays clear and clean-tasting.

Swap the carrot

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (fish, onion):

  1. Potatofits better
  2. Leekfits better
  3. Chivefits better
  4. Carrotthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against fish, onion. 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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