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Court Bouillon for Boiling Fish

A broth made with fish, vinegar, vegetables, herbs, and spices, used for boiling fish.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 12 ingredients
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Why it works: Carrot and parsley match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 8,053 recipes. Both carry 2,4-decadienal, which smells seaweed. The science ↓

Court Bouillon for Boiling Fish

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Place the fish in a large pot and cover it with cold water.

  2. Add the vinegar, carrots, onions, and garlic.

  3. Tie the sweet herbs, spices, and bay leaf in a muslin bag and add to the pot along with salt and pepper.

Cook and serve

  1. Boil the fish until cooked through.

  2. Pour in a jugful of cold water before serving, and do not remove the fish until ready to 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 + parsleytop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together8,053 recipes

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

  2. Onion + garlictop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together29,058 recipes

    Shared aroma: furaneol (caramel, strawberry).

  3. Pepper + parsleytop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together34,122 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

  4. Garlic + parsleytop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together9,308 recipes

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

  5. Clove + peppertop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together17,451 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).

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

What each ingredient does

Fish
Is the main ingredient that gives the broth its flavor and body as it cooks.
Vinegar
Adds acidity that brightens the broth and helps draw flavor from the ingredients.
Carrots
Contribute sweetness and aroma to the broth as they simmer.
Onions
Add savory depth and aroma to the broth as they cook.

The step that matters

Pour in a jugful of cold water before serving. Adding cold water to the simmering pot helps the broth settle and cool slightly, so the liquid clears and the fish stays intact rather than breaking apart.

Swap the clove

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (fish, vinegar, carrot, onion, garlic, pepper, parsley):

  1. Thymefits better
  2. Marjoramfits better
  3. Tarragonfits better
  4. Clovethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against fish, vinegar, carrot, onion, garlic, pepper, parsley. 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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