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Fish Soup

A clear soup made from white fish, water, milk, cream, and seasonings, finished with egg yolk and lemon.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 13 ingredients
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Why it works: Carrot and onion are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 6% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 21,601 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓

Fish Soup

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the stock

  1. Cut the fish and its bones into small pieces.

  2. Place the fish in a pot with water, carrot, onion, parsley, mace, and a little salt. Simmer gently for about 20 minutes, then strain the mixture.

Make the soup

  1. Melt the butter in a pot, stir in the flour, then add the strained stock and milk. Bring to a boil while stirring, then simmer for a few minutes.

  2. Beat the yolk of egg and cream together, strain into the soup, and stir gently without boiling.

  3. Add the lemon juice, season to taste, 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. Carrot + oniontop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together21,601 recipes

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

  2. Milk + buttertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together81,283 recipes

    Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).

  3. Cream + buttertop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together41,516 recipes

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

  4. Whiting + creamtop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together135 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  5. Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together124,287 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

Butter and flour barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 124,287 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.

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

What each ingredient does

White fish
Provides the main flavour and body of the soup once its stock is made.
Flour
Thickens the butter and milk mixture into a smooth base for the soup.
Egg yolk
Enriches and thickens the soup when stirred in without boiling.
Cream
Adds richness and a smoother, silkier texture to the finished soup.
Milk
Adds body and mild sweetness to the soup base.
Butter
Adds fat and richness, and carries the flavour of the roux.

The step that matters

Stirring in the egg yolk and cream without boiling. Egg yolk can curdle and turn grainy if it gets too hot. Keeping the soup below a boil while stirring gently lets it thicken smoothly.

Swap the carrot

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (whiting, milk, cream, butter, flour, egg, onion):

  1. Chivefits better
  2. Potatofits better
  3. Leekfits better
  4. Carrotthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against whiting, milk, cream, butter, flour, egg, onion. 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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