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A Marinade for Boiled Fish

A savory liquid made by simmering carrots, onions, shallots, garlic, butter, parsley, sweet herbs, wine or cider, and spices.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 12 ingredients
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Why it works: Carrot and parsley match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 8,053 recipes. Both carry 2,4-decadienal, which smells seaweed. The science ↓

A Marinade for Boiled Fish

Ingredients

Directions

  1. In a stewpan, combine carrots, onions, shallots, garlic, butter, parsley, and sweet herbs.

  2. Fry the mixture for a few minutes.

  3. Gradually add the wine or cider.

  4. Stir in the salt, peppercorns, allspice, and cloves.

  5. Simmer for 1.5 hours, then strain the mixture for later use.

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. Carrot + parsleytop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together8,053 recipes

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

  2. Onion + garlictop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together29,058 recipes

    Shared aroma: furaneol (caramel, strawberry).

  3. Shallot + parsleytop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together3,737 recipes

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

  4. Garlic + parsleytop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together9,308 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

  5. Shallot + garlictop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together2,000 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

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

What each ingredient does

Carrots
Add sweetness and aromatic flavour as they soften during simmering.
Onions
Build savoury depth and sweetness as they cook down in the liquid.
Butter
Carries fat-soluble aromatics and helps the vegetables brown lightly when fried.
Wine or cider
Provides acidity and liquid that draws flavour from the vegetables and herbs.
Peppercorns
Release pungent aroma and warm spice into the simmering liquid.
Allspice berries
Contribute warm, clove-like aroma to the marinade.

The step that matters

Simmer for 1.5 hours, then strain. A long, gentle simmer extracts flavour from the vegetables and spices, while a full boil can make the liquid cloudy and bitter. Straining removes solids so the liquid is clear and smooth for use.

Swap the clove

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (carrot, onion, shallot, garlic, butter, parsley, wine):

  1. Thymefits better
  2. Capersfits better
  3. Tarragonfits better
  4. Clovethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against carrot, onion, shallot, garlic, butter, parsley, wine. 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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