Why it works: Bread and butter 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 ↓
Scalloped Fish
Ingredients
Directions
The book says “a quick oven”. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.
Prepare
Season the bread crumbs with salt, cayenne, and nutmeg.
Remove the skin and bones from the cold fish and cut it into ¾-inch pieces.
Season the fish with salt, white pepper, and cayenne.
Mix the fish with sauce or dissolved butter.
Assemble and bake
Layer crumbs in a dish or scallop shells, add the fish, and cover with more crumbs.
Pour dissolved butter over the top and bake at 400°F (200°C) for 15 minutes.
If using potatoes, mash them with 2 ounces of butter instead of bread crumbs.
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.
-
Bread + buttertop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together27,232 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).
-
Pepper + nutmegtop 7% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together13,015 recipes
Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
-
Nutmeg + potatotop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,052 recipes
Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
-
Pepper + potatotop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together8,305 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
-
Bread + fishtop 10% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,668 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-undecenal (sweet).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Fish
- Forms the main body of the dish and becomes flaky and tender when gently baked.
- Bread crumbs
- Form the layers that absorb butter and sauce and crisp into a golden top.
- Butter
- Adds richness and moisture, and helps the top brown as it bakes.
- Sauce
- Binds the fish and adds moisture so the filling does not dry out in the oven.
The step that matters
Remove the skin and bones from the cold fish. Bones left in the fish are easy to bite into and hard to notice once the dish is baked and covered in crumbs. Cutting even pieces also helps them cook at the same rate.
Swap the potato
The recipe marks potato as optional. How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (bread, pepper, nutmeg, fish, white pepper, sauce, butter):
- Capsicumfits better
- Shallotfits about as well
- Potatothe original
- Tomatofits about as well
Fit is the average pairing score against bread, pepper, nutmeg, fish, white pepper, sauce, butter. 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
Potato Croquettes255 recipes
Fried Fish120 recipes
Fish Croquettes81 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.