Fish-free recipes from whatever's in your fridge

Fish hides in the seasoning

A fish allergy rarely goes away, and the fillet on the plate is the easy part. It's the anchovy melted into the lamb. The splash of Worcestershire sauce in the shepherd's pie. The fish sauce that makes a Thai salad taste of something. The dashi under a bowl of noodle soup. These are seasonings, the lines a recipe adds without a second thought, and they are where fish catches people out.

Grublin gives them the second thought. Set fish once and the fish, and the seasonings made from it, are kept out of every recipe.

What the check catches

Fish, by name. The word fish, and with it fish sauce, fish stock, fish pie and fish fingers. Fishcakes are on the list in their own right, because the word fish can't be found inside a one-word compound. The catch-all word seafood is caught too.

Named fish. Salmon, tuna, cod, haddock, hake, pollock, coley, whiting, sole, plaice, halibut, turbot, skate, sea bass, bream, snapper, mullet, trout, carp, tilapia, barramundi, branzino, monkfish, swordfish, catfish, herring, kippers, mackerel, sardine, pilchard, sprat, whitebait, anchovy and eel, and fish roe.

The seasonings. Worcestershire sauce, which is made with anchovies; dashi and bonito, the dried fish behind Japanese stock; nam pla, Thai fish sauce under its own name; and caviar.

Dishes that are fish without saying so. Caesar dressing, made with anchovies; taramasalata, made with cod roe; surimi, the processed white fish in crab sticks; kedgeree, gravlax and bottarga.

Plurals. Anchovies, sardines and mackerel fillets all match.

If any of these appears anywhere in the finished recipe, Grub writes another, and you only see the one that passed.

What the check does not catch

• Fish the list doesn't name. The list covers the common fish, not every species. John Dory, pike, perch, zander, or pollock spelled "pollack", written only by that name, are not caught. The request still tells Grub that fish is off limits, but the code would not stop them.
• Dishes that usually contain fish without naming it. Salsa verde and puttanesca often contain anchovies, and a Caesar salad's dressing may be listed only as "Caesar-style". If the recipe doesn't name the anchovy, it isn't caught.
• Fish in products. Thai and Vietnamese curry pastes, some stock cubes, and kimchi, which is often made with fish sauce or salted shrimp, can contain fish without the recipe needing to say so. The check reads ingredient names, not product labels.
• Cross-contamination. Chip-shop fryers and shared fish counters.
• "Vegan fish sauce". It contains the word fish, so it trips the check and Grub rewrites the recipe. That costs a retry, never safety.

The check lowers the chance of fish reaching your plate. Read the label on anything from a packet or a jar.

Fish-free and something else

• Fish and shellfish. Set both for a full seafood allergy. Prawns, mussels, squid and oyster sauce go too.
• Fish-free and vegetarian or vegan. Both already rule out fish and shellfish using the same lists, so either covers it.
• Fish-free with a soy allergy. Most of the savoury seasonings in East Asian cooking are fish or soy. Set both and the flavour has to come from ginger, garlic, chilli, citrus and toasted spices instead.
• Fish-free and gluten-free. Set both. Worcestershire sauce, fish sauce and ordinary soy sauce are all out at once.

What you'll actually cook

Grub writes from your fridge or your craving, so there is no fixed list, and fish-free keeps the whole meat, egg and vegetable range: roasts, pies, curries, pasta, stews, stir-fries and traybakes. The dishes that lean on fish for flavour come back seasoned another way. Ask for a shepherd's pie and the version you see uses no Worcestershire sauce; ask for a Thai-style salad and its dressing isn't built on fish sauce. If you use a curry paste or a shop-bought dressing, check the jar.

Set your kit too, so a fish-free dinner from the slow cooker is written for the slow cooker.