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Sturgeon, to Stew

A stew of sturgeon simmered in a seasoned gravy with herbs, onions, horseradish, vinegar, wine, and butter.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 11 ingredients
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Why it works: Onion and horseradish match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,784 recipes. Both carry coumarin, which smells sweet, hay. The science ↓

Sturgeon, to Stew

Ingredients

Directions

Make the gravy

  1. Combine gravy, salt, black pepper, sweet herbs, onions, horseradish, and vinegar in a pot.

  2. Bring the mixture to a boil for a few minutes.

  3. Remove the pot from heat.

  4. Let the mixture cool slightly.

Cook the fish

  1. Add the fish to the pot.

  2. Gradually bring the mixture back to a boil.

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

  4. Remove the pot from heat.

  5. Keep the fish warm.

Finish the gravy and serve

  1. Strain the gravy.

  2. Thicken the strained gravy with butter.

  3. Stir in the port or sherry, nutmeg, and lemon juice.

  4. Simmer the gravy until it thickens.

  5. Pour the thickened gravy over the fish.

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. Onion + horseradishtop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,784 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

  2. Pepper + horseradishtop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,646 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

  3. Corn + peppertop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together5,324 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

  4. Pepper + oniontop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together68,474 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  5. Vinegar + sherrytop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together660 recipes

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

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

What each ingredient does

Butter
Enriches the strained gravy, giving it body and a rich, glossy texture.
Port or sherry wine
Adds sweetness and depth of flavour to the finished gravy.
Vinegar
Adds acidity that sharpens the gravy and balances its richness.
Onions
Build savoury flavour in the gravy as they cook with the liquid.

The step that matters

Stew the fish gently after adding it. Once the gravy returns to a boil, fish can overcook and fall apart too quickly. Gentle heat keeps the flesh moist and in pieces rather than turning it dry and mushy.

Swap the horseradish

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (fish, corn, pepper, onion, vinegar, butter, sherry):

  1. Capsicumfits better
  2. Potatofits better
  3. Tomatofits better
  4. Horseradishthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against fish, corn, pepper, onion, vinegar, butter, sherry. 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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