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Smelts Au Gratin

Smelts au Gratin is a baked dish of smelt fish layered with breadcrumbs, butter, and Parmesan cheese.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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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 ↓

Smelts Au Gratin

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

  1. Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).

  2. Wipe the smelts dry and place a layer of fine bread crumbs and small lumps of butter in a shallow baking dish.

Layer and bake

  1. Lay the smelts open flat on top of the crumbs.

  2. Grate a layer of Parmesan cheese over the smelts.

  3. Add another layer of bread crumbs and butter, repeating the layers until the dish is full.

  4. Season with pepper and coarse sea salt, finishing with a layer of bread crumbs, butter, and cheese on top.

  5. Bake for about 25 minutes until the top is browned and crispy.

Serve

  1. Serve by passing the dish around for guests to help themselves.

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. Bread + buttertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together27,232 recipes

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

  2. Butter + parmesan cheesetop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,163 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

  3. Parmesan cheese + peppertop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together5,322 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl 2-methylbutyrate (fruity, apple).

  4. Bread + parmesan cheesetop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together577 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

  5. Bread + peppertop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together20,964 recipes

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

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

What each ingredient does

Smelts
Form the main body of the dish, staying tender and moist under the crumb topping.
Parmesan cheese
Adds savory flavor and helps the top brown and crisp as it bakes.
Butter
Adds fat that moistens the crumbs and promotes browning on top.
Fine bread crumbs
Form layers that absorb butter and fat and crisp into a golden topping.

The step that matters

Layering the crumbs, butter and cheese. Finishing with a layer of crumbs, butter and cheese on top gives the dish a crisp, browned surface. Without enough fat on the top layer, the crumbs can stay pale and dry while the fish underneath overcooks.

“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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