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Fish Stock for 'Maigre Soupes'

A clear fish stock made by simmering fish, bones, aromatics, and optional wine or vinegar.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 ingredients
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Why it works: Clove and mace are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 6% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 8,400 recipes. Both carry methyleugenol, which smells clove, spice. The science ↓

Fish Stock for 'Maigre Soupes'

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Place the fish and fish bones in a pot with water.

  2. Add the onion, cloves, peppercorns, mace, and bouquet garni.

  3. Bring to a boil.

  4. Skim off any foam that forms.

Simmer and finish

  1. Reduce heat and simmer slowly until the stock reduces to about half its original volume.

  2. Add white wine or vinegar for flavor, if desired.

  3. Season with salt just before serving.

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. Clove + macetop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together8,400 recipes

    Shared aroma: methyleugenol (clove, spice).

  2. Onion + white winetop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,535 recipes

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

  3. Onion + clovetop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together16,901 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonanone (fruity, floral).

  4. Fish + white winetop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together370 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,3-pentanedione (butter, sweet).

  5. Clove + white winetop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,715 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).

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

What each ingredient does

Fish and fish bones
Provide the main savory flavor and body of the stock as they simmer.
Onion
Adds sweetness and aromatic depth to the stock.
White wine or vinegar
Adds acidity that brightens the flavor of the stock.

The step that matters

Skimming the foam. Foam that forms at the boil contains coagulated proteins and impurities. Skimming it off keeps the stock clear and prevents off-flavors from recirculating into the liquid.

Swap the onion

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (fish, clove, mace, white wine):

  1. Shallotfits better
  2. Carrotfits better
  3. Capsicumfits about as well
  4. Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against fish, clove, mace, white 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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