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Curried Haddock

A haddock fillet simmered in beef stock, water, and curry powder, optionally with onion, then optionally fried in lard or oil.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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Why it works: Beef and onion are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 17,092 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓

Curried Haddock

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Fillet the haddock and set aside.

  2. In a pot, combine beef stock and water, then add curry powder.

  3. If using, chop the onion and add it to the pot.

Simmer the curry

  1. Bring the mixture to a simmer and add the haddock fillets.

  2. Cook for 1 hour until the fish is tender.

  3. If preferred, fry the fillets in lard or oil for a few minutes before adding to the curry.

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 + oniontop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together17,092 recipes

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

  2. Haddock + oniontop 23% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together483 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  3. Haddock + beeftop 28% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together34 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

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

What each ingredient does

Haddock fillets
Main protein; it firms and flakes as its proteins set during gentle cooking.
Beef stock
Forms the liquid base and adds savory depth to the sauce.
Curry powder
Provides the main aroma and spiced flavor of the dish.
Onion
Adds sweetness and body to the sauce as it softens in the liquid.

The step that matters

Simmer the fish gently. Once the fillets go in, keep the liquid at a gentle simmer rather than a hard boil. Vigorous boiling toughens fish proteins and can break the flakes apart, so the fillets turn dry and ragged.

Swap the onion

The recipe marks onion as optional. How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (haddock, beef):

  1. Potatofits better
  2. Onionthe original
  3. Tomatofits about as well
  4. Chivefits less well

Fit is the average pairing score against haddock, beef. 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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