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Dinner for 10 Persons. February.

A hearty stew featuring sturgeon head, cod heads, fried soles, pork leg, and assorted fruits, seasoned with soy sauce, ginger, garlic, and spices.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 17 ingredients
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Why it works: Ginger and garlic are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 6% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 6,402 recipes. Both carry beta-phellandrene, which smells minty, terpene. The science ↓

Dinner for 10 Persons. February.

Ingredients

Directions

The book gives no cooking times; the times in the steps were added in transcription, so check for doneness rather than trusting the clock.

Prepare

  1. Prepare the sturgeon's head by cleaning and removing any gills.

  2. Combine the sturgeon head with soy sauce, ginger, garlic, and scallions in a pot.

  3. Simmer for 30 minutes.

Cook the sides and pork

  1. Melt butter in a pan, season with salt and pepper, and cook the cod's heads until golden.

  2. Fry the soles until crispy and golden brown.

  3. Boil the leg of pork in a pot with mustard, honey, vinegar, and apple cider until tender.

Serve

  1. Serve the assorted fruits as a fresh side.

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. Ginger + garlictop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together6,402 recipes

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

  2. Garlic + chickentop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together10,850 recipes

    Shared aroma: 3-ethyl-2,5-dimethylpyrazine (roasted, nutty).

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

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

  4. Butter + white winetop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together5,083 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).

  5. Ginger + peppertop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together6,800 recipes

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

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

What each ingredient does

Sturgeon head
Provides the main body and rich flavour of the soup base.
Soy sauce
Adds savory depth and salt-based umami to the broth.
Butter
Adds fat and richness, and helps the cod's heads brown.
Leg of pork
Becomes tender through long boiling, adding meat and body to the dish.
Apple cider
Adds acidity and fruity sweetness to the pork cooking liquid.
Honey
Adds sweetness and helps the pork take on a glossy browned surface.

The step that matters

Simmer the sturgeon head gently. Boiling hard can cloud the broth and break up delicate fish tissue, so a gentle simmer keeps the soup clear and the flesh intact.

Swap the ginger

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sturgeon, sauce, garlic, butter, pepper, chicken, white wine):

  1. Thymefits better
  2. Parsleyfits better
  3. Capersfits better
  4. Gingerthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against sturgeon, sauce, garlic, butter, pepper, chicken, 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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