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Soles or Eels Stewed

A stew of soles or eels simmered in beef gravy with mushroom ketchup, port wine, and optional cream, cayenne, and nutmeg.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 11 ingredients
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Why it works: Beef and mushroom are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 4% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 3,232 recipes. Both carry 2,4-nonadienal, which smells fatty, green. The science ↓

Soles or Eels Stewed

Ingredients

Directions

Fry and simmer

  1. Half-fry the soles or eels until slightly browned, then drain excess fat.

  2. Season with pepper and coarse sea salt, and cover with beef gravy.

  3. Simmer gently for 15 to 20 minutes, depending on thickness, without overcooking.

  4. Carefully lift the fish with a slice.

Finish the sauce

  1. Thicken the sauce with flour and butter, then flavor with mushroom ketchup and port wine.

  2. Simmer for 1 to 2 minutes, then strain the sauce over the fish.

  3. For a variation, mix the thickening with 1 cup of good cream, seasoned with cayenne and nutmeg, and optionally add a spoonful of ketchup.

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. Beef + mushroomtop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together3,232 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-nonadienal (fatty, green).

  2. Butter + mushroomtop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together12,525 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-decenal (waxy, orange).

  3. Butter + creamtop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together41,516 recipes

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

  4. Pepper + beeftop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together18,971 recipes

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

  5. Mushroom + port winetop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together570 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

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

What each ingredient does

Soles or eels
Form the main body of the dish, staying firm when gently simmered.
Flour
Thickens the sauce so it coats the fish rather than running thin.
Butter
Enriches the thickened sauce and adds richness and smooth body.
Beef gravy
Forms the savory liquid that the fish simmers in and the sauce is built on.
Port wine
Adds sweetness and depth of flavor to the sauce.
Mushroom ketchup
Adds concentrated savory, umami flavor to the sauce.

The step that matters

Simmer gently without overcooking. Fish proteins toughen and flake apart when held at a hard boil or cooked too long, so a gentle simmer keeps the soles or eels tender and intact.

“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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