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Coulibiac

A baked fish pie made with brioche paste, semolina, salmon, mushrooms, onion, and vesiga.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 12 ingredients
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Why it works: Butter and bread are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 27,232 recipes. Both carry delta-decalactone, which smells sweet, creamy. The science ↓

Coulibiac

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 vesiga

  1. Soak the dried vesiga in cold water for 4 hours.

  2. Cook the soaked vesiga in white consomme or water for 3.5 hours.

Assemble

  1. Roll the brioche paste into rectangles 12 inches long and 8 inches wide.

  2. Layer semolina, salmon, chopped vesiga, eggs, mushrooms, and onion on the paste.

  3. Finish with a layer of semolina.

  4. Moisten the edges of the paste and fold over the layers to enclose them.

  5. Place the coulibiac on a baking tray with the seam side down.

  6. Let it rise for 45 minutes.

  7. Brush with melted butter and sprinkle with fine bread crumbs.

  8. Make a slit in the top for steam to escape.

Bake and serve

  1. Bake in a moderate oven at 350°F (175°C) for 1 hour.

  2. Fill with melted butter when removing from the oven.

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. Butter + breadtop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together27,232 recipes

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

  2. Mushroom + buttertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together12,525 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-decenal (waxy, orange).

  3. Mushroom + breadtop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,536 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

  4. Mushroom + oniontop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together10,626 recipes

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

  5. Brioche + salmontop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together17 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-ol (mushroom, earthy).

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

What each ingredient does

Brioche paste
Forms the rich, tender pastry that encloses and holds the filling together.
Eggs
Set with heat to bind the filling and add richness to the layers.
Semolina
Absorbs moisture from the filling so the layers stay separate and firm.
Collops of salmon
Provides the main protein and rich flavour of the filling.
Dried vesiga
Softens into a gelatinous, chewy layer after long soaking and cooking.
Mushrooms
Add earthy flavour and moisture to the filling.

The step that matters

Enclosing the filling with a sealed seam. Moistening the paste edges and folding them firmly keeps the juices and steam inside during baking. A poor seal lets the filling leak and the pastry dry out.

Swap the onion

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (brioche, semolina, salmon, egg, mushroom, butter, bread):

  1. Chivefits better
  2. Shallotfits better
  3. Asparagusfits better
  4. Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against brioche, semolina, salmon, egg, mushroom, butter, bread. 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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