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A Matelote of Carp, Eel, and Other Fish

A French fish stew made with carp, eel, and other freshwater fish, butter, flour, onions, wine, water, mushrooms, herbs, and toasted bread.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 11 ingredients
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Why it works: Butter and bread are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 27,232 recipes. Both carry delta-decalactone, which smells sweet, creamy. The science ↓

A Matelote of Carp, Eel, and Other Fish

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Scale and clean the fish, then cut them into equal pieces.

Make the stew

  1. In a large pot, melt the butter and add the flour and onions.

  2. When the onions are half done, add the fish, red wine, water, mushrooms, herbs, salt, and pepper.

  3. Stew the mixture on high heat for one hour.

Serve

  1. Before serving, add toasted bread slices to the sauce and arrange the fish in a pyramid on a serving dish, with heads in the middle and mushrooms and onions around.

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. Butter + breadtop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together27,232 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).

  2. Butter + mushroomtop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together12,525 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-decenal (waxy, orange).

  3. Red wine + mushroomtop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together720 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-methoxy-4-methylphenol (smoky, clove).

  4. Mushroom + breadtop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,536 recipes

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

  5. Onion + mushroomtop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together10,626 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

Fresh-water fish
Provides the main body of the dish, which becomes tender as it stews in the wine sauce.
Butter
Adds fat and richness, and helps cook the onions and flour together.
Flour
Thickens the wine and water into a smooth, cohesive sauce.
Onions
Add sweetness and body to the sauce as they soften during cooking.
Red wine
Adds acidity and depth of flavour to the sauce as it reduces and combines with the fish.
Mushrooms
Add earthy flavour and moisture to the stew.

The step that matters

Stewing the fish on high heat for one hour. Fish is delicate and can break apart or turn tough with prolonged vigorous boiling. Keeping the stew at a gentle simmer helps the flesh stay intact while the sauce thickens and the flavours blend.

Swap the onion

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

  1. Shallotfits better
  2. Tomatofits better
  3. Capsicumfits better
  4. Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against fish, butter, flour, red wine, mushroom, pepper, bread. 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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