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A hearty stew of fish, beef, pork, liver, and vegetables simmered in milk and molasses.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 20 ingredients
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Why it works: Turnip and carrot are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and 8,001 recipes mention both. Both carry coumarin, which smells sweet, hay. The science ↓

The recipe

Ingredients

Contains: egg, milk, wheat, fish (auto-detected from the ingredients and method; we can miss things, so check labels)

Directions

Prepare

  1. Peel and chop the potatoes, turnip, carrot, onions, and celery.

Make the stew

  1. In a large pot, combine the tomatoes, fish, pork, and the chopped vegetables.

  2. Add the milk, molasses, and crushed crackers to the pot.

  3. In a separate pan, melt the butter and sauté the liver until cooked through.

  4. Add the liver, beef, egg, and parsley to the pot, and season with salt and pepper.

  5. Stir in the Indian meal and simmer until everything is cooked and flavors meld.

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 aroma chemistry they share, and how many recipes mention both.

  1. Turnip + carrottop 2% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapmoderate
    Mentioned together8,001 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

  2. Potato + porktop 2% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together2,667 recipes

    Shared aroma: sotolon (curry, maple).

  3. Potato + oniontop 2% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together9,019 recipes

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

  4. Potato + carrottop 3% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together3,105 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isobutyl-3-methoxypyrazine (green bell pepper, earthy).

  5. Tomato + potatotop 3% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together2,797 recipes

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

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

What each ingredient does

Fish
Forms the main body of the stew and contributes savory flavor and tender flakes.
Beef
Adds substantial meaty bulk and savory depth to the stew.
Milk
Creates a rich, creamy liquid base that gives the stew body and softness.
Egg
Helps bind the mixture and adds richness and some structure as it cooks.
Indian meal
Thickens the stew as it simmers, giving it a fuller, heartier body.
Molasses
Adds sweetness and a deep, dark flavor that balances the tomatoes.

The step that matters

Stir in the Indian meal and simmer. Cornmeal can settle on the bottom of the pot and scorch, and milk-based liquids can curdle or stick if heated too hard. Stirring often over gentle heat keeps the stew smooth and evenly thickened.

Flavor stand-ins for the clove

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (tomato, fish, potato, turnip, carrot, onion, pork):

  1. Celerybetter flavor fit
  2. Thymebetter flavor fit
  3. Garlicbetter flavor fit
  4. Clovethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against tomato, fish, potato, turnip, carrot, onion, pork. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes. This compares flavor only: it does not check the job the ingredient does in the dish (bulk, moisture, acidity, structure).

“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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