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Esturgeon Roti

A roasted sturgeon served with a stock-based sauce and browned potatoes.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 10 ingredients
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Why it works: Onion and potato are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 3% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 9,023 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓

Esturgeon Roti

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the fish

  1. Remove the skin from the sturgeon and lard it well.

  2. Tie the sturgeon with cooking string and roast it.

Make the basting liquid

  1. In a stewpan, combine the sliced onion, carrot, dark stock, salt, pepper, and sherry or marsala.

  2. Heat on a brisk fire until it boils, then strain the mixture.

Roast and serve

  1. Baste the sturgeon frequently with the strained liquid while roasting.

  2. Once the fish is browned, dish it up and pour the drippings over it.

  3. Serve with slightly browned potatoes.

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. Onion + potatotop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together9,023 recipes

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

  2. Carrot + potatotop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together3,107 recipes

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

  3. Pepper + carrottop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together14,555 recipes

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

  4. Onion + carrottop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together21,601 recipes

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

  5. Pepper + potatotop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together8,305 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

Sturgeon
Forms the main body of the dish, cooked whole and tied to hold its shape.
Dark stock
Provides savoury depth to the basting liquid and drippings.
Sherry or marsala
Adds acidity and sweetness to the basting liquid, building flavour as it reduces.
Butter
Adds fat and richness, helping the fish brown and stay moist while basting.

The step that matters

Basting the sturgeon frequently. Lean fish dries out quickly over heat. Repeated basting with the strained liquid keeps the surface moist and helps it take on an even brown colour.

Swap the onion

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sturgeon, pepper, carrot, sherry, butter, potato):

  1. Capsicumfits better
  2. Onionthe original
  3. Tomatofits about as well
  4. Leekfits about as well

Fit is the average pairing score against sturgeon, pepper, carrot, sherry, butter, potato. 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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