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Eel Broth

A clear broth made by simmering eel with herbs, onion, peppercorns, allspice, cloves, salt, and water.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 ingredients
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Eel Broth

Why it works: Allspice and clove match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 7,874 recipes. Both carry estragole, which smells anise, licorice. The science ↓

Eel Broth

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Clean and skin the eel.

  2. Combine eel, herbs, onion, peppercorns, allspice berries, cloves, salt, and water in a pot.

Simmer and strain

  1. Bring to a gentle boil, skimming off any scum.

  2. Simmer until the liquid reduces to half.

  3. Strain through a fine sieve and let cool.

  4. Remove the fat and reheat as needed.

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.

Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it

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. Allspice + clovetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together7,874 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  2. Onion + clovetop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together16,901 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonanone (fruity, floral).

  3. Onion + allspicetop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,270 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

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

What each ingredient does

Eel
Gives the broth its main body and rich, savory flavor as it simmers.
Sweet herbs
Add aromatic flavor to the broth as it simmers.
Onion
Adds savory sweetness and depth to the broth.

The step that matters

Skimming off any scum. Scum is coagulated protein and impurities that rise during the first boil. Removing it keeps the broth clear and clean-tasting instead of cloudy or bitter.

Swap the onion

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (allspice, clove):

  1. Carrotfits better
  2. Mustardfits better
  3. Parsnipfits better
  4. Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against allspice, clove. 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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