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Stewed Carp or Tench

A fish stew of carp or tench simmered in veal broth and finished with a sauce of cream, butter, egg yolks, and elder vinegar.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 11 ingredients
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Why it works: Shallot and lemon match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 6% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,523 recipes. Both carry eucalyptol, which smells eucalyptus, herbal. The science ↓

Stewed Carp or Tench

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 the fish

  1. Clean the fish and roe.

  2. Stew the fish gently in veal broth until nearly done.

Make the sauce

  1. In a separate pot, boil veal consomme, onion, shallots, lemon peel, and anchovies for 5 minutes.

  2. Add the fish liquor to the mixture.

  3. Strain the mixture into a bowl.

  4. Stir in cream, butter, egg yolks, and elder vinegar.

  5. Whisk over low heat until the sauce thickens, being careful not to burn it.

Serve

  1. Place the fish on a serving dish.

  2. Pour the sauce over the fish.

  3. Garnish with fried bread around the dish.

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. Shallot + lemontop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together2,523 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

  2. Onion + shallottop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together2,431 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).

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

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

  4. Shallot + vinegartop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,374 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  5. Onion + vinegartop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together18,226 recipes

    Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).

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

What each ingredient does

Egg yolks
Thicken the sauce as they set and give it a rich, smooth body.
Cream
Adds richness and a smooth texture that softens the sauce.
Butter
Adds fat for a glossy finish and a silky mouthfeel.
Anchovies
Contribute savory depth to the sauce base.
Shallots
Add mild aromatic sweetness and savoury flavour to the base.
Veal broth
Provides savoury liquid that gently cooks the fish and flavours the sauce.

The step that matters

Whisking the sauce over low heat. Egg yolks thicken by gentle heat; if the sauce gets too hot it can scramble or curdle, and it may catch and burn on the base of the pot. Low heat and constant whisking keep it smooth and thickened.

Swap the lemon

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (veal, onion, shallot, cream, butter, egg, vinegar):

  1. Lemonthe original
  2. Avocadofits about as well
  3. Coconutfits about as well
  4. Cherryfits less well

Fit is the average pairing score against veal, onion, shallot, cream, butter, egg, vinegar. 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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