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Sturgeon a LA Beaufort

A braised sturgeon shaped like an S, covered with quenelle force‑meat, lobster‑coral, truffles, soles, crayfish, bacon, and served with Matelotte sauce.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 12 ingredients
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Why it works: Carrot and celery match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 10,173 recipes. Both carry myristicin, which smells spice, warm. The science ↓

Sturgeon a LA Beaufort

Ingredients

Directions

The book gives no oven temperature. The 300°F (150°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.

Prepare the fish

  1. Draw the sturgeon.

  2. Skin the sturgeon.

  3. Truss the sturgeon in the shape of the letter S.

  4. Braise the sturgeon in mirepoix moistened with sherry and brandy until cooked.

  5. Drain the sturgeon.

  6. Cool the sturgeon in the larder.

Decorate

  1. Cover the sturgeon with a layer of quenelle force-meat.

  2. Restore the head shape with force-meat mixed with lobster-coral.

  3. Shape the eyes, mouth, and gills with black truffles.

  4. Place fillets of soles crosswise on the back of the sturgeon, leaving 1 inch between each fillet.

  5. Insert trimmed crayfish tails into the spaces between the fillets.

  6. Cover the sturgeon with thin layers of fat bacon.

  7. Place the sturgeon on a drainer.

Cook and serve

  1. Put the sturgeon in a braiser with some of the mirepoix used for braising.

  2. About 1 hour before serving, place the sturgeon in a 300°F (150°C) oven or on a slow fire with live embers on the lid.

  3. Simmer gently without boiling until done.

  4. Remove the sturgeon from the braiser.

  5. Remove the bacon layers.

  6. Slide the sturgeon onto a serving dish.

  7. Sauce around the sturgeon with Matelotte sauce and some of the braising liquid.

  8. Garnish with blanched and fried soft roes of mackerel and quenelles of lobster.

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. Carrot + celerytop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together10,173 recipes

    Shared aroma: myristicin (spice, warm).

  2. Sherry + brandytop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,209 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).

  3. Carrot + oniontop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together21,601 recipes

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

  4. Onion + celerytop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together18,518 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

  5. Sturgeon + whitingtop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together16 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

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

What each ingredient does

Sturgeon
Is the main fish that is braised and presented whole as the centrepiece.
Quenelle force-meat
Forms a smooth, set layer that restores the head shape and covers the fish.
Fat bacon
Lays over the fish during slow cooking, basting it with fat and keeping it moist.
Sherry or common broth
Moistens the mirepoix, adding acidity and savoury flavour to the braising liquid.
Brandy
Adds aroma and depth of flavour to the braising liquid.
Black truffles
Provide dark colour and a strong earthy aroma for the decorative features.

The step that matters

Slow cooking the sturgeon with gentle heat. Simmering gently without boiling keeps the fish tender and intact. Boiling toughens the proteins and can break the delicate shaped body apart.

Swap the onion

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sturgeon, carrot, celery, sherry, brandy, meat, whiting):

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

Fit is the average pairing score against sturgeon, carrot, celery, sherry, brandy, meat, whiting. 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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