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Fish Pudding

A baked fish and cream mixture cooked in a mold with a potato ball center and white sauce.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
By Mary Ronald · From a historical cookbook (Project Gutenberg) · 9 ingredients
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Why it works: Cream and butter are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 8% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 41,516 recipes. Both carry delta-dodecalactone, which smells sweet, creamy. The science ↓

Fish Pudding

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the fish

  1. Pound the fish in a mortar until thoroughly mashed, then rub through a puree sieve.

  2. Season the fish pulp with salt, pepper, and onion juice.

Make the custard

  1. Melt the butter in a saucepan, add the flour, and cook for a few minutes.

  2. Slowly add the cream or milk, stirring constantly until well scalded.

  3. Add the fish pulp, remove from heat, add beaten eggs, and mix thoroughly.

Bake and serve

  1. Butter a border or ring mold holding a pint or little more; place the mixture in the mold, pressing it against the sides to remove air bubbles.

  2. Cover the mold with greased paper, and set in a pan of warm water covering half the mold.

  3. Place in moderate oven for thirty minutes, ensuring the water does not boil.

  4. Place the form of fish on a hot dish, fill the center with boiled potato balls, pour over the potato balls some Bechamel or white sauce, sprinkle chopped parsley over the top.

  5. Serve with a generous amount of Bechamel or white sauce.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

736Calories
21 gProtein
24 gFat
108 gCarbs
What these numbers assume: 7 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Flour1 cup (125g) all-purpose455
Butter1 tbsp (14g)102
Egg1 large egg (50g)78
Cream1 tbsp (15ml) heavy51
Onion1 medium (110g)44
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 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. Cream + buttertop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together41,516 recipes

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

  2. Pepper + oniontop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together68,474 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  3. Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together124,287 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  4. Butter + oniontop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together42,912 recipes

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

  5. Flour + eggtop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together106,462 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

Butter and flour barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 124,287 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)
Forms the main body of the pudding, giving it its flavor and substance.
Eggs
Set when heated, binding the fish and cream into a firm, sliceable pudding.
Cream
Adds moisture and richness, keeping the pudding tender rather than dry.
Butter
Adds fat and richness, and forms the base of the flour thickening.
Flour
Thickens the cream mixture so it holds the fish pulp together.

The step that matters

Keep the water in the pan below a boil while baking. Eggs set gently when heated slowly; boiling water would make the pudding bubble, toughen, and separate or crack.

Swap the onion

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (cream, butter, flour, pepper, egg):

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

Fit is the average pairing score against cream, butter, flour, pepper, egg. 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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