Why it works: Butter and cream 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 ↓
Finnan Haddie
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Brown the finnan haddie in butter until heated through.
In a separate bowl, combine cream, hard-boiled egg pieces, raw egg yolk, and grated cheese.
Make the sauce
Thicken the mixture with flour to your desired consistency.
Season with coarse sea salt to taste.
Cook for 7 to 8 minutes, stirring gently.
Serve
Serve in a chafing dish.
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.
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.
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Butter + creamtop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together41,516 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
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Butter + cheesetop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together7,962 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
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Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Cream + cheesetop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together2,655 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
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Egg + flourtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked 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
- Finnan haddie
- Smoked fish that forms the main body of the dish.
- Cream
- Provides moisture and richness, giving the sauce a smooth, creamy body.
- Raw egg yolk
- Enriches the sauce and helps it thicken and set as it heats gently.
- Flour
- Thickens the liquid so the sauce holds together rather than running thin.
- Butter
- Adds fat and flavour and helps brown the fish.
The step that matters
Adding the raw egg yolk to the cream. Egg yolk thickens only gently under heat. If the mixture gets too hot or cooks too fast, the yolk can scramble and curdle, so keep the heat low and stir gently.
“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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