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Fish Soup

A fish soup made with white fish, stock, herbs, vinegar, and a brown roux.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 11 ingredients
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Why it works: Tarragon and pepper match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,399 recipes. Both carry estragole, which smells anise, licorice. The science ↓

Fish Soup

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the fish

  1. Wash the fish and remove the head and fins.

Make the stock

  1. Add the fish to the stock with the herbs and minced vegetables.

  2. Boil down the mixture until it reduces to a quart, then strain it.

Thicken and finish

  1. In a separate pan, melt the butter and mix in the brown flour.

  2. Gradually add the strained soup to the butter and flour mixture.

  3. Cut the fish into 1-inch squares and add to the soup.

  4. Cook until the fish is tender.

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. Tarragon + peppertop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together2,399 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  2. Mushroom + buttertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together12,525 recipes

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

  3. Vinegar + tarragontop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,547 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  4. Mushroom + peppertop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together13,580 recipes

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

  5. Fish + buttertop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,488 recipes

    Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).

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

What each ingredient does

Fresh white fish
Provides the main protein and flavour, becoming tender as the soup cooks.
Browned flour
Thickens the soup and adds a deeper, toasted flavour when cooked with butter.
Butter
Carries the flour for a smooth roux base that helps thicken the soup.
Stock
Forms the liquid base of the soup, carrying the flavour of the fish and vegetables.

The step that matters

Adding the strained soup to the butter and flour mixture. Adding liquid gradually while stirring keeps the roux smooth, so the flour dissolves evenly instead of forming lumps and the soup thickens consistently.

Swap the tarragon

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (vinegar, mushroom, ketchup, fish, flour, butter, pepper):

  1. Tarragonthe original
  2. Parsleyfits about as well
  3. Thymefits about as well
  4. Capersfits about as well

Fit is the average pairing score against vinegar, mushroom, ketchup, fish, flour, butter, pepper. 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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