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Fish Cutlets

Fish cutlets made from halibut, egg whites, heavy cream, and seasonings, baked and served with a Dutch sauce.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 13 ingredients
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Fish Cutlets

Why it works: Pepper and parsley match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 34,122 recipes. Both carry 4'-methylacetophenone, which smells bitter almond. The science ↓

Fish Cutlets

Ingredients

Directions

The book gives no oven temperature. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.

Prepare the fish

  1. Finely chop the halibut.

  2. Force the chopped halibut through a sieve to yield 1⅓ cups.

  3. Pound the fish in a mortar.

  4. Gradually add the egg whites while pounding.

  5. Mix in the heavy cream.

  6. Season the mixture with salt, pepper, and cayenne.

Make the cutlets

  1. Turn the mixture into buttered cutlet molds.

  2. Place the molded cutlets in a pan of hot water.

  3. Cover the cutlets with buttered paper.

  4. Bake at 400°F (200°C) until the fish is firm.

Make the Dutch sauce

  1. To make the Dutch Sauce, mix the egg yolks, salt, olive oil, and vinegar in a small saucepan.

  2. Place the small saucepan in a larger one with hot water.

  3. Cook over low heat, stirring constantly, until thickened.

  4. Add the chopped parsley and a few grains of pepper.

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.

  1. Pepper + parsleytop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together34,122 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

  2. Olive + parsleytop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together9,649 recipes

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

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

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

  4. Cream + saucetop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,787 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  5. Olive + vinegartop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together12,297 recipes

    Shared aroma: isoamyl acetate (banana, fruity).

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

What each ingredient does

Halibut
Forms the body of the cutlet, providing the main structure once cooked.
Egg whites
Bind the pounded fish and set on heating, giving the cutlet firm structure.
Heavy cream
Adds moisture and fat, keeping the cutlet tender rather than dry.
Egg yolks
Emulsify with the oil and thicken gently with heat to form the sauce.
Olive oil
Adds fat and richness to the Dutch sauce, carried in the emulsion.
Vinegar
Adds acidity that sharpens the flavor of the Dutch sauce.

The step that matters

Cooking the Dutch sauce over low heat. Egg yolks thicken at gentle heat but scramble if overheated. Constant stirring and a hot water bath keep the sauce smooth and prevent curdling.

Swap the parsley

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (egg, cream, pepper, butter, sauce, olive, vinegar):

  1. Tarragonfits about as well
  2. Capersfits about as well
  3. Parsleythe original
  4. Garlicfits about as well

Fit is the average pairing score against egg, cream, pepper, butter, sauce, olive, vinegar. 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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