Name: Scalloped Fish
Ingredients: 2 pounds cold boiled fish; ½ pound butter; 2 ounces flour; 1 pint plus ½ cup milk; 1 teaspoon salt; ¼ teaspoon cayenne pepper; 1 nutmeg; 4 egg yolks

Why it works: Butter and milk are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 81,283 recipes. Both carry (z)-4-heptenal, which smells biscuit, cream. The science ↓

Scalloped Fish

Oven, in the book's wordsA moderate oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a moderate oven”. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Prepare the fish

Remove bones and skin from the fish, and break it into bits about 1 inch long and half the thickness of your little finger.

Make the dressing

Scald 1 pint of milk over boiling water.
Mix the flour with the remaining milk until smooth.
Cook the mixture until it thickens more than boiled custard, then remove from heat.
Whisk in the beaten egg yolks, butter, cayenne, salt, and half of the grated nutmeg.

Assemble and bake

Butter a baking dish.
Layer the dressing, then the fish, repeating until full, finishing with dressing on top.
Cover with grated bread.
Sprinkle the remaining nutmeg on top.
Bake for 45 minutes at 350°F (175°C); avoid too much heat to prevent drying out the fish.

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.

Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it

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.

Butter + milktop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together81,283 recipes

Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
Pepper + nutmegtop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together13,015 recipes

Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
Flour + nutmegtop 8% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together18,623 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Fish + buttertop 12% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together4,488 recipes

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

Fish: Forms the body of the dish; gentle heat keeps its flesh moist and tender.
Butter: Adds richness and fat that makes the dressing smooth and flavourful.
Flour: Thickens the milk into a smooth dressing that holds the layers together.
Milk: Forms the liquid base of the dressing, setting into a custard-like sauce when cooked.
Egg yolks: Enrich and thicken the dressing, helping it set and giving it a silky texture.

The step that matters

Baking at moderate heat. Too much heat dries out the fish and can curdle the egg yolk dressing, so keep the oven at the stated temperature.

Swap the nutmeg

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

Nutmegthe original
Parsleyfits about as well
Cinnamonfits about as well
Capersfits less well

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