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Soup

Fish Stock

A clear liquid made by simmering fish bones, trimmings, and vegetables in water.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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Why it works: Onion and carrot 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 Stock

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Cut up the fish and prepare the vegetables.

Make the stock

  1. Combine the fish and vegetables in the water.

  2. Simmer for 2 hours, skimming occasionally.

  3. Strain the stock before serving.

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. Onion + carrottop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together21,601 recipes

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

  2. Fish + oniontop 19% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together1,924 recipes

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

  3. Fish + carrottop 22% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together315 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

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

What each ingredient does

Bones and trimmings of fish
Provide gelatin and savory flavor that give the stock body and depth.
Water
Acts as the solvent that extracts flavor and gelatin from the fish and vegetables.
Onion
Adds sweetness and aromatic flavor to the stock.
Carrot
Adds subtle sweetness and aroma to the stock.

The step that matters

Skimming during the simmer. Skimming removes foam and coagulated proteins that rise to the surface, keeping the stock clear and preventing off flavors. Simmering gently rather than boiling also keeps the liquid from turning cloudy.

Swap the carrot

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (fish, onion):

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

Fit is the average pairing score against fish, 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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