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Esturgeon D LA Erovenc^ale

A sturgeon slice stewed with eels, ham, butter, herbs, garlic, and bay leaves.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 10 ingredients
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Why it works: Parsley and pepper match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 34,122 recipes. Both carry 4'-methylacetophenone, which smells bitter almond. The science ↓

Esturgeon D LA Erovenc^ale

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Lard the sturgeon slice with eels and ham alternately.

  2. In a stewpan, combine melted butter, parsley, fine herbs, garlic, salt, and pepper. Add the bay leaves and place the sturgeon in the stewpan.

Cook and serve

  1. Let the fish stew slowly until cooked through. Skim off any fat and serve.

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. Parsley + peppertop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together34,122 recipes

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

  2. Parsley + garlictop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together9,308 recipes

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

  3. Clove + peppertop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together17,451 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).

  4. Parsley + clovetop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together6,768 recipes

    Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).

  5. Garlic + peppertop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together27,090 recipes

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

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

What each ingredient does

Sturgeon
Forms the main body of the dish and carries the flavour of the larding and the butter.
Eels
Larded through the fish, adding rich, fatty flavour and moisture as they cook.
Ham
Larded through the fish, adding salty, savoury flavour that seasons the sturgeon.
Melted butter
Adds fat that carries aroma and keeps the fish moist during slow stewing.

The step that matters

Let the fish stew slowly until cooked through. Gentle heat cooks the thick slice evenly and keeps the flesh moist and tender. Rushing with high heat can dry the outside before the centre sets.

Swap the garlic

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sturgeon, ham, butter, parsley, clove, pepper):

  1. Thymefits better
  2. Nutmegfits better
  3. Allspicefits better
  4. Garlicthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against sturgeon, ham, butter, parsley, clove, pepper. 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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