Why it works: Anchovy and sauce are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,057 recipes. Both carry ethanol, which smells alcoholic, ethereal. The science ↓
Fish Scallop
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.
Make the filling
In a stew-pan, combine the fish, cream, anchovy sauce, mustard, walnut catsup, pepper, and salt.
Heat the mixture on the stove until hot, stirring gently without boiling.
Bake and serve
Transfer the mixture to a deep dish, top with bread crumbs and small pieces of butter.
Place in a 400 °F (200 °C) oven to brown for about 30 minutes.
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.
-
Anchovy + saucetop 2% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together2,057 recipes
Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
-
Mustard + walnuttop 9% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together849 recipes
Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).
-
Mustard + peppertop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together15,430 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
-
Fish + anchovytop 9% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together637 recipes
Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).
-
Cream + saucetop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together4,787 recipes
Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Fish
- Forms the bulk of the filling and provides the main flavour and body.
- Cream
- Adds moisture and richness so the filling stays soft and smooth.
- Bread crumbs
- Form a crisp topping that browns in the oven.
- Butter
- Adds fat that helps the topping brown and crisp.
The step that matters
Heating the mixture without boiling. Stirring gently while heating keeps the cream from scorching or splitting, which would leave the filling grainy and unevenly textured before it goes into the oven.
Swap the walnut
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (fish, cream, anchovy, sauce, mustard, pepper, bread):
- Beansfits better
- Chestnutfits about as well
- Walnutthe original
- Chickpeafits about as well
Fit is the average pairing score against fish, cream, anchovy, sauce, mustard, pepper, 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.
You might also like
Brown Bread461 recipes
Fried Fish120 recipes
Fish Croquettes81 recipes
White Bread80 recipesThe free Flavor Lab newsletter: one surprising pairing a week and the molecular reason it works, in 60 seconds. No spam, unsubscribe anytime.
Prefer an account? Create a free account to save pairings and unlock the full chemistry.