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Fish Chops

Fish Chops are fried fish cakes made from shredded cooked fish mixed with milk, flour, and seasonings.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 14 ingredients
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Why it works: Pepper and parsley match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 34,122 recipes. Both carry 4'-methylacetophenone, which smells bitter almond. The science ↓

Fish Chops

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the fish

  1. Remove all bones and skin from the cooked fish and shred it finely.

  2. Add salt, pepper, cayenne, and onion juice to the fish and mix well.

Make the binder

  1. Boil the milk, then stir in flour mixed with butter until thick.

  2. Remove from heat and stir in egg yolks, then add the fish mixture.

  3. Heat on the stove for 2 minutes, then add parsley and lemon juice.

Shape, coat and fry

  1. Spread the mixture on a platter and chill in the ice for several hours until stiff.

  2. Form tablespoonfuls of the mixture into chops.

  3. Roll each chop in beaten egg and then in fine crumbs.

  4. Fry in deep hot fat for 2 minutes until golden brown.

  5. Serve with tomato or hollandaise sauce.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

  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

Cooked fish
Provides the main body and flavor of the chops.
Flour
Thickens the milk into a stiff sauce that holds the chops together.
Egg yolks
Enrich and bind the mixture, helping it set firm when chilled and cooked.
Milk
Forms the creamy base that the flour thickens into a binding sauce.
Butter
Adds richness and flavor to the thickened base.
Beaten egg
Helps the fine crumbs adhere and form a crisp, golden coating when fried.

The step that matters

Chill until stiff. The mixture must be chilled thoroughly before shaping; if it 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, flour, butter, egg, parsley):

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

Fit is the average pairing score against fish, pepper, milk, flour, butter, egg, parsley. 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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