Why it works: Lemon and onion are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 19% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 15,646 recipes. Both carry decanal, which smells soap, orange peel. The science ↓
Eel Pie
Ingredients
Directions
The book says “a quick oven”. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.
Prepare the eels
Skin and cut the eels into 3-inch pieces.
Stew and set
Stew the eels slowly in the stock with the onion, herbs, and seasonings until tender.
Lay the fish in a pie dish and strain the stock over them.
When cold, cover with short pastry.
Bake and serve
Bake in a 400°F (200°C) oven for about 20 minutes.
Serve hot or cold.
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.
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Lemon + oniontop 19% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together15,646 recipes
Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Eels
- Provide the main body of the pie, becoming tender when stewed slowly.
- Stock
- Cooks the eels and, once strained over them, keeps the filling moist.
- Short pastry
- Forms the crust that encloses the filling and browns in the oven.
- Lemon juice
- Adds acidity that brightens the rich flavour of the eels.
The step that matters
Stewing the eels slowly until tender. Gentle heat lets the eel flesh become tender without toughening or breaking apart. Rushing with high heat can make the fish tough and dry, so the stew should simmer rather than boil hard.
“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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