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Potatoes and Creamed Fish

A baked casserole of flaked fish topped with mashed potatoes and coated with egg white.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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Why it works: Milk and butter are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 81,283 recipes. Both carry (z)-4-heptenal, which smells biscuit, cream. The science ↓

Potatoes and Creamed Fish

Ingredients

Directions

The book gives no oven temperature. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.

Prepare the filling

  1. Flake the leftover fish from the bones and remove the skin while still warm.

  2. In a bowl, combine the fish with heated milk and melted butter to moisten it, then add the beaten egg yolk.

Assemble and bake

  1. Heap the fish mixture in the center of a platter and create a wall around it with seasoned mashed potatoes.

  2. Brush the potato wall with the beaten egg white and sprinkle with a little salt.

  3. Bake in a preheated oven at 400°F (200°C) until browned.

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.

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

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

  2. Milk + potatotop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together3,611 recipes

    Shared aroma: (e,z)-2,6-nonadienal (cucumber, melon).

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

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

  4. Fish + milktop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,432 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4-heptenal (creamy, biscuit).

  5. Butter + potatotop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together6,456 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

Leftover fish
Forms the main filling, providing the flaky body of the casserole.
Heated milk
Adds moisture so the fish stays tender rather than dry.
Melted butter
Adds fat and richness, helping the fish feel moist and smooth.
Beaten egg yolk
Binds the fish mixture and helps it hold together when baked.
Seasoned mashed potatoes
Forms the wall that holds the fish and browns on the surface.
Beaten egg white
Brushed on the potatoes to help them brown evenly in the oven.

The step that matters

Brushing the potato wall with egg white. Egg white proteins set and brown in the oven, so an even coat gives a glossy, golden crust. Missing spots may stay pale, and the wall should be sealed well so the fish filling does not spread or dry out.

“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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