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For a Large Fresh Fish

A large fresh fish tied in a cloth and cooked in boiling water, served with a sauce of chopped hard-boiled eggs, butter, pepper, salt, mustard and milk.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
By Vehling, Joseph Dommers, 1879-1950. fmo · From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 4 ingredients
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Why it works: Tea and pepper work together. They rank in the top 15% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 260 recipes. Both carry trans-2-nonenal, which smells cardboard, fatty. The science ↓

For a Large Fresh Fish

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Wash and clean the fish well.

  2. Have a kettle of boiling water on the stove.

  3. Take the fish and tie it up in a cloth.

  4. Put about one tablespoonful of salt in the kettle.

Make the egg sauce

  1. Boil six eggs very hard and chop them up fine.

  2. Add about two tablespoonfuls of butter, one teaspoonful of pepper, one of salt, and a little mustard.

  3. Add a little milk to make a gravy.

Serve

  1. Pour the gravy over the fish.

  2. If there are any fish eggs, boil them also.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

186Calories
7 gProtein
17 gFat
2 gCarbs
What these numbers assume: 4 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Butter1 tbsp (14g)102
Egg1 large egg (50g)78
Black Pepper1 tsp ground (2.3g)6
Salt1 tsp (6g)0

One typical portion per ingredient; the recipe's quantities are not counted. A rough guide only, not for medical or dietary planning.

By Vehling, Joseph Dommers, 1879-1950. fmo. 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. 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.

  1. Tea + peppertop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together260 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).

  2. Egg + buttertop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together118,967 recipes

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

  3. Butter + peppertop 21% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together85,593 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).

  4. Butter + teatop 21% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together703 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-furfurylthiol (coffee, roasted).

  5. Egg + teatop 31% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together821 recipes

    Shared aroma: (e)-2-octenal (fatty, green).

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

What each ingredient does

Eggs
Set firm when hard-boiled and chopped, giving the gravy body and substance.
Butter
Adds fat and richness, giving the gravy a smooth, rounded mouthfeel.
Milk (in the method)
Supplies liquid that loosens the chopped eggs and butter into a pourable gravy.

The step that matters

Boil the eggs very hard. Long boiling sets the egg white and yolk firm, so they chop fine and blend into the gravy. Overcooking can toughen the whites and leave a grey-green ring around the yolk.

“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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