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Fish Stock

A clear broth made by simmering fish bones, herbs, onion, carrot, and peppercorns 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. Wash the fish bones well in cold water and remove any black substance.

  2. Break the bones into smaller pieces and place them in a saucepan.

  3. Add ½ teaspoon of coarse sea salt and enough water to cover the bones.

Simmer

  1. Bring to a boil, then remove any scum that forms on the surface.

  2. Add 12 white peppercorns, the bunch of herbs, chopped onion, and chopped carrot.

  3. Boil steadily for 2 hours or longer.

Strain and serve

  1. Strain the stock through a sieve into a basin and it's ready for use.

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

Fish bones
Provide the core flavour and gelatine that give the stock body once simmered.
Onion
Adds sweetness and aromatic depth to the stock as it cooks.
Carrot
Adds subtle sweetness and aroma to the stock.

The step that matters

Removing the scum after the stock comes to a boil. Scum is coagulated protein and impurities; skimming it early keeps the stock clear and prevents a cloudy, off-tasting result.

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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