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Fish Chops

A fish dish made by mixing shredded fish with a white sauce, shaping into chops, coating, and frying.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
By Mary Ronald · From a historical cookbook (Project Gutenberg) · 18 ingredients
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Why it works: Parsley and lemon match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 14,037 recipes. Both carry beta-phellandrene, which smells minty, terpene. The science ↓

Fish Chops

Ingredients

Directions

Make the white sauce

  1. Put one cupful of cream or milk in a double boiler.

  2. When scalded, stir in the butter and flour rubbed together, and cook for five minutes.

  3. Remove from the fire and mix in, stirring all the time, the beaten yolks of two eggs.

  4. Put again on the fire and stir until thickened.

Shape the chops

  1. Take shredded boiled fish (one pound or pint) and sprinkle with salt, pepper, chopped parsley, and lemon juice.

  2. Mix the seasoned fish with the white sauce.

  3. Spread the mixture on a dish and set aside for several hours to cool and stiffen.

  4. Take a tablespoonful of the mixture, mold into the form of chops, round at one end and pointed at the other.

  5. Roll the chops in crumbs, then in beaten egg, then in coarse bread crumbs grated from the loaf.

  6. Let the molded chops stand for a time to stiffen before frying.

Fry and serve

  1. Place the chops in a basket four at a time, and immerse in hot fat until an amber color.

  2. Place on paper to dry.

  3. When all are done, pierce a small hole in the pointed end with a fork, and insert a sprig of parsley.

  4. Dress on a napkin, and serve with tomato, Bearnaise, or Hollandaise sauce.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

1106Calories
50 gProtein
45 gFat
124 gCarbs
What these numbers assume: 11 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Flour1 cup (125g) all-purpose455
Salmon100g cooked208
Milk1 cup (244ml) whole149
Butter1 tbsp (14g)102
Egg1 large egg (50g)78
Cream1 tbsp (15ml) heavy51
Onion1 medium (110g)44
Lemonjuice of 1 lemon (48ml)12
Black Pepper1 tsp ground (2.3g)6
Parsley1 tbsp chopped fresh (3.8g)1
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 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.

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. Parsley + lemontop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together14,037 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

  2. Pepper + parsleytop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together34,122 recipes

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

  3. Pepper + lemontop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together27,047 recipes

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

  4. Milk + buttertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together81,283 recipes

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

  5. Butter + creamtop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together41,516 recipes

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

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

What each ingredient does

Fish
Forms the bulk of the chop and gives it its main flavor.
Flour
Thickens the butter and milk into a white sauce that holds the fish together.
Eggs
Yolks thicken the sauce, and beaten egg helps the crumb coating stick.
Cream
Provides richness and body to the white sauce, giving a softer, smoother texture.
Butter
Adds richness and flavor to the flour base of the white sauce.

The step that matters

Chilling the mixture until firm. The cooled sauce and fish must set firmly before shaping and frying. If the mixture is still soft, the chops will lose their shape and may break apart in the hot fat.

Swap the onion

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (fish, pepper, milk, butter, parsley, cream, lemon):

  1. Potatofits better
  2. Spinachfits better
  3. Leekfits better
  4. Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against fish, pepper, milk, butter, parsley, cream, lemon. 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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