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Fish Soup

A clear fish broth thickened with butter, flour, and egg yolks, flavored with carrot, onion, parsley, mace, and lemon.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 13 ingredients
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Why it works: Carrot and onion are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 6% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 21,601 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓

Fish Soup

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the stock

  1. Cut the fish and bones into small pieces.

  2. Place fish, bones, water, carrot, onion, parsley, mace, and a little salt in a pot.

  3. Simmer gently for 20 minutes, then strain the mixture.

Make the soup

  1. Melt the butter in a pot, stir in the flour, then add the strained stock and milk.

  2. Bring to a boil while stirring, then simmer for 4 minutes.

  3. Beat the egg yolks and cream together, then strain into the soup.

  4. Stir by the side of the fire for 2-3 minutes without boiling.

  5. Add lemon juice, season to taste, and serve.

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 + oniontop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together21,601 recipes

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

  2. Milk + buttertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together81,283 recipes

    Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).

  3. Cream + buttertop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together41,516 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).

  4. Fish + buttertop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,488 recipes

    Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).

  5. Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together124,287 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

Butter and flour barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 124,287 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.

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

What each ingredient does

White fish
Provides the main body of flavour and the flesh that makes the soup substantial.
Flour
Thickens the soup with butter as a roux, giving it body.
Egg yolks
Enrich and thicken the soup as they gently set when warmed, adding richness.
Cream
Adds richness and a smooth, velvety texture.
Butter
Carries flavour and forms the base of the roux that thickens the soup.

The step that matters

Stir by the side of the fire without boiling. Egg yolks thicken by gentle heat but will curdle and turn grainy if they get too hot or boil, so the soup must stay below a simmer once they are added.

Swap the carrot

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (fish, milk, cream, butter, flour, egg, onion):

  1. Potatofits better
  2. Leekfits better
  3. Chivefits better
  4. Carrotthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against fish, milk, cream, butter, flour, egg, onion. 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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