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Soles or Eels Stewed

A stew of soles or eels simmered in beef gravy, thickened with flour and butter, flavored with mushroom ketchup, port wine, cream, cayenne, and nutmeg.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 11 ingredients
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Why it works: Beef and mushroom are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 4% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 3,232 recipes. Both carry 2,4-nonadienal, which smells fatty, green. The science ↓

Soles or Eels Stewed

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the fish

  1. If desired, first fry the fish until slightly browned, then drain excess fat.

  2. Season the fish with pepper and coarse sea salt.

Stew and finish the sauce

  1. Cover the fish with beef gravy and let it simmer gently for 20 minutes, adjusting time based on thickness.

  2. Carefully remove the fish with a slotted spoon.

  3. Thicken the sauce with flour and butter, then flavor with mushroom ketchup and port wine.

  4. Simmer the sauce for 1-2 minutes, then strain it over the fish.

  5. Alternatively, mix the thickening with 1 cup of cream seasoned with cayenne and nutmeg, with or without a spoonful of ketchup.

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. Beef + mushroomtop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together3,232 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-nonadienal (fatty, green).

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

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

  3. Butter + creamtop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together41,516 recipes

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

  4. Pepper + beeftop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together18,971 recipes

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

  5. Mushroom + port winetop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together570 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

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

What each ingredient does

Soles or eels
The main fish, which turns tender and flaky during gentle simmering in the gravy.
Beef gravy
Forms the cooking liquid that gives the sauce its savory, meaty base.
Flour
Thickens the sauce as it cooks with butter, giving it body.
Butter
Enriches the sauce and combines with flour to form the thickening roux.
Port wine
Adds sweetness and depth of flavor to the finished sauce.
Cream
Adds richness and a smooth, velvety texture to the alternative sauce.

The step that matters

Simmer gently. Gentle simmering keeps the fish tender and intact, while a hard boil can break it apart and toughen the flesh. Thickness affects how long it needs, so check it as it cooks.

“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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