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Stewed Cod Fish, in Brown Sauce

A stewed cod fish finished with a brown sauce made from butter, flour, mace, and wine.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 10 ingredients
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Why it works: Port wine and vinegar work together. They rank in the top 11% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 598 recipes. Both carry 4-ethyl-2-methoxyphenol, which smells smoky, clove. The science ↓

Stewed Cod Fish, in Brown Sauce

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare and fry

  1. Remove the skin from the fish and dust it with flour.

  2. Fry the fish quickly in a hot pan until golden brown, then drain on a sieve.

Stew and sauce

  1. Place the fish in a clean stewpan and cover with boiling brown gravy.

  2. Add the port wine or claret, chili vinegar or lemon juice, cayenne, and salt.

  3. Stew the fish gently until it begins to break apart.

  4. In the gravy, mix the butter and flour until smooth, then add ground mace.

  5. Bring the sauce to a boil for one minute, then pour it over the fish and serve immediately.

Serve

  1. Carefully transfer the fish to a hot serving dish.

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. Port wine + vinegartop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together598 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4-ethyl-2-methoxyphenol (smoky, clove).

  2. Fish + buttertop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,488 recipes

    Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).

  3. Flour + buttertop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together124,287 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  4. Butter + port winetop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,499 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).

  5. Pepper + vinegartop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together27,814 recipes

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

Flour and butter barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 124,287 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.

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

What each ingredient does

Cod fish
Forms the main body of the dish, becoming tender and flaky as it stews.
Butter
Adds richness and a smooth, glossy mouthfeel to the sauce.
Flour
Thickens the sauce and helps the fish take on a golden crust when fried.
Brown gravy
Provides the savory base of the sauce and moisture for the stewed fish.
Port wine or claret
Adds depth, mild sweetness and fruity aroma to the sauce.
Chili vinegar or lemon juice
Adds acidity that brightens and balances the rich, savory sauce.

The step that matters

Stew the fish gently until it begins to break apart. High heat or vigorous boiling can toughen and shred cod too quickly. Gentle simmering keeps the flakes intact while the flesh cooks through and absorbs the sauce.

Swap the mace

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (fish, flour, pepper, butter, port wine, vinegar):

  1. Tarragonfits better
  2. Parsleyfits better
  3. Capersfits better
  4. Macethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against fish, flour, pepper, butter, port wine, vinegar. 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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