Why it works: Fish and parsley are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 18% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,341 recipes. Both carry 2,4-decadienal, which smells seaweed. The science ↓
Water Souchy
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the broth
In a pot, add enough water to just cover the fish.
Add salt, peppercorns, green parsley, and split parsley roots.
Simmer until the parsley roots are tender, about 30–60 minutes.
Cook the fish
Clean the fish, removing any brown skin, and cut into 2‑inch portions.
Add the fish to the pot and remove any scum that rises.
Stew the fish gently for 8–12 minutes, being careful not to overcook.
Before serving, stir in minced parsley or small branches of boiled parsley.
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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Fish + parsleytop 18% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together2,341 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Fish
- Forms the body of the stew, releasing flavour and gelatin into the broth as it cooks.
- Coarse sea salt
- Seasons the broth and draws out flavour from the fish and herbs.
- Parsley roots
- Simmered first to infuse the broth with their earthy, savoury flavour.
The step that matters
Stew the fish gently. Fish proteins toughen and dry out when boiled hard or cooked too long, so the broth should only simmer gently and the fish should be removed as soon as it is just cooked.
“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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