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Water Souchet

A fish soup made with flounder, plaice, soles, perch, tench, parsley, salt, and pepper, served with brown bread and butter.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 ingredients
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Why it works: Parsley and pepper match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 34,122 recipes. Both carry 4'-methylacetophenone, which smells bitter almond. The science ↓

Water Souchet

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the fish

  1. Wash and clean the fish.

  2. Place the fish in a stewpan and cover with cold water.

  3. Add a small bunch of parsley and salt to taste.

Poach and serve

  1. Cook gently until the fish is done.

  2. Carefully transfer the fish to a deep dish or tureen.

  3. Sprinkle with 1 teaspoon of finely chopped parsley.

  4. Strain the cooking liquid and add it to the fish.

  5. Serve with brown bread and butter.

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. Parsley + peppertop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together34,122 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

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

What each ingredient does

Flounders
Firm white flesh that flakes into tender pieces when gently poached.
Plaice
Delicate white flesh that becomes moist and flaky when gently poached.
Soles
Lean white flesh that stays tender and flakes when cooked gently in water.
Perch
Firm white flesh that holds its shape in a gently simmered liquid.
Tench
Firm, mild flesh that stays moist when poached in a lightly seasoned liquid.
Parsley
Adds fresh, herbal aroma to the poaching liquid and the finished fish.

The step that matters

Cook gently until the fish is done. Water at a hard boil toughens and breaks up delicate fish flesh, while gentle heat cooks it evenly and keeps it moist and flaky. Keep the liquid just below a simmer.

“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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