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Water Souchet

A fish stew made with flounder, plaice, soles, perch or tench, carrot, parsley, and sea salt, served with bread and butter.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 4 ingredients
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Why it works: Carrot and parsley match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 8,053 recipes. Both carry 2,4-decadienal, which smells seaweed. The science ↓

Water Souchet

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the fish

  1. Wash and clean the fish.

  2. Place the fish in a stewpan and cover with cold water.

  3. Add the parsley and salt.

Cook and serve

  1. Cook gently until the fish is done.

  2. Carefully transfer the fish to a serving dish.

  3. Sprinkle with finely chopped parsley and shredded carrot, previously cooked in salted water.

  4. Strain the cooking liquid and add it to the dish.

  5. Serve with thinly cut brown bread and butter.

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. Carrot + parsleytop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together8,053 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).

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

What each ingredient does

Flounders, plaice, soles, perch or tench
Firm white fish flesh that cooks gently in water and forms the main body of the dish.
Carrot
Adds mild sweetness and a bright colour as a shredded garnish.
Parsley
Adds fresh herbal aroma to the poaching liquid and a fresh finish on the fish.

The step that matters

Cook gently until the fish is done. Simmering below a boil keeps the delicate fish proteins tender and prevents them from toughening or breaking apart. Vigorous boiling makes the flesh dry and flaky.

“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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