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Scalloped Fish

Baked white fish topped with white sauce and mashed potatoes.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
By Mary Ronald · From a historical cookbook (Project Gutenberg) · 19 ingredients
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Scalloped Fish

Why it works: Celery and parsley match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 6,810 recipes. Both carry 4'-methylacetophenone, which smells bitter almond. The science ↓

Scalloped Fish

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the fish

  1. Boil two pounds of fish in court bouillon until tender enough to flake.

Make the sauces

  1. Make a white sauce by melting one tablespoonful butter, adding one tablespoonful flour, whisking, then adding one cupful of milk, salt, pepper, and cayenne.

  2. Boil four medium-sized potatoes, mash them, season with one half teaspoonful of salt, one quarter teaspoonful of pepper, and a little cream or milk; beat until light, then add the whites of four eggs beaten stiff.

Assemble and bake

  1. Fill a baking dish one half full with the flaked fish.

  2. Pour the white sauce over the fish.

  3. Cover the top with the mashed potatoes, leaving the potato rough and irregular.

  4. Place in the oven for fifteen minutes, or until browned.

  5. (Optional) Substitute cream for the white sauce and use enough to moisten the fish.

  6. (Optional) Use shells or individual cups instead of a baking dish.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

1357Calories
81 gProtein
43 gFat
159 gCarbs

Counts 13 of 14 ingredients. The other 1 aren't in our nutrition table and add nothing above, so the real totals are higher.

What these numbers assume: 13 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Flour1 cup (125g) all-purpose455
Salmon100g cooked208
Potato1 medium (173g) baked161
Milk1 cup (244ml) whole149
Halibut100g cooked140
Butter1 tbsp (14g)102
Egg1 large egg (50g)78
Onion1 medium (110g)44
Clove1 tsp ground (2g)7
Celery1 stalk (40g)6
Black Pepper1 tsp ground (2.3g)6
Parsley1 tbsp chopped fresh (3.8g)1
Salt1 tsp (6g)0
Saucenot in our table0

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

By Mary Ronald. Recipe from a historical cookbook (Project Gutenberg).

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.

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.

  1. Celery + parsleytop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together6,810 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

  2. Butter + milktop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together81,283 recipes

    Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).

  3. Onion + celerytop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together18,518 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

  4. Onion + parsleytop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together25,843 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).

  5. Fish + buttertop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,488 recipes

    Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).

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

What each ingredient does

Halibut
Forms the flaky main body of the dish once cooked and flaked.
Eggs
Whites beaten stiff lighten the potato topping and help it puff and set.
Potatoes
Form a soft, mashed topping that browns on the surface in the oven.
Butter
Enriches the white sauce and adds richness and flavour.
Flour
Thickens the milk into a smooth white sauce.
Milk
Forms the liquid base of the white sauce, adding body and moisture.

The step that matters

Beating the egg whites stiff into the potatoes. Egg whites hold air when beaten to stiff peaks, so the topping stays light. If they are underbeaten or deflated when folded in, the topping turns dense and does not rise well in the oven.

Swap the onion

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (celery, parsley, sauce, fish, butter, flour, milk):

  1. Shallotfits better
  2. Carrotfits better
  3. Potatofits better
  4. Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against celery, parsley, sauce, fish, butter, flour, milk. 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.

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