Why it works: Butter and egg are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 17% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 118,967 recipes. Both carry decanal, which smells soap, orange peel. The science ↓
Baked Fish
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the fish
Wash and wipe the fish dry.
Salt the fish.
Take slices of toasted bread with thin slices of sweet pork.
Lay the bread and pork slices in the fish.
Place a thin muslin cloth under the fish in a dripping pan.
Pour one pint of boiling water over the fish.
Bake
Place the pan in the oven and bake for one hour.
Make the sauce and serve
Mix one tablespoonful of sweet butter with one tablespoon of flour smoothly together.
Pour the butter-flour mixture over one pint of boiling water.
Add salt and pepper to taste.
Slice four hard-boiled eggs.
Lay the sliced eggs on the fish.
Pour the sauce over the fish just as it is sent to the table.
Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)
Counts 4 of 5 ingredients. The other 1 aren't in our nutrition table and add nothing above, so the real totals are higher.
What these numbers assume: 4 portions
| Ingredient | Portion assumed | kcal |
|---|---|---|
| Butter | 1 tbsp (14g) | 102 |
| Egg | 1 large egg (50g) | 78 |
| Black Pepper | 1 tsp ground (2.3g) | 6 |
| Salt | 1 tsp (6g) | 0 |
| Water | not in our table | 0 |
One typical portion per ingredient; the recipe's quantities are not counted. A rough guide only, not for medical or dietary planning.
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. See the original page.
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.
-
Butter + eggtop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together118,967 recipes
Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).
-
Butter + peppertop 21% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together85,593 recipes
Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).
-
Egg + peppertop 33% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together50,580 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Egg and pepper barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 50,580 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Fish (in the method)
- Is the main dish that is baked and seasoned, and cooks gently in the steam from boiling water.
- Sweet butter
- Adds richness and a smooth fat base that carries the flour into the sauce.
- Flour (in the method)
- Thickens the butter and water mixture into a smooth, pourable sauce.
- Hard-boiled eggs
- Add body and a mild, rich flavour to the finished dish when laid on the fish.
- Sweet pork
- Adds fat and savoury flavour that melts into the fish during baking.
The step that matters
Mixing the butter and flour before adding water. Stirring the flour smoothly into the butter first keeps it from clumping, so the boiling water thickens the sauce evenly into a smooth texture.
“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.
More baked fish recipes
You might also like
Tomato Soup526 recipes
Brown Bread461 recipes
Mutton Broth292 recipes
Yorkshire Pudding264 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.