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Finnan Haddie

A baked fish casserole with a creamy sauce and a cracker crumb topping.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 9 ingredients
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Why it works: Butter and milk 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 ↓

Finnan Haddie

Oven, in the book's wordsA hot oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a hot oven”. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Poach the fish

  1. Place the fish in a saucepan, flesh side down, and cover with cold water.

  2. Cook on the back of the range for 30 minutes.

  3. Move the saucepan to a hotter part of the range.

  4. Heat the water to a simmer.

  5. Let the water simmer for 5 to 10 minutes.

  6. Drain the fish carefully.

  7. Separate the fish into flakes, discarding the skin and bones.

Make the cream sauce

  1. For each cup of fish, melt butter in a pan to prepare a cream sauce.

  2. Stir in flour, salt, and pepper.

  3. Gradually add milk to the sauce.

  4. Reheat the fish in the cream sauce.

Assemble and bake

  1. Layer the fish and sauce in a buttered baking dish, finishing with sauce on top.

  2. Mix cracker crumbs with melted butter.

  3. Sprinkle the crumb mixture on top of the casserole.

  4. Bake in a hot oven at 400°F (200°C) until the crumbs are 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. Butter + milktop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together81,283 recipes

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

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

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

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

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

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

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

  5. Flour + milktop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together78,219 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

Thick fish
Forms the main body of the casserole, cooked gently and flaked into the sauce.
All-purpose flour
Thickens the butter and milk into a smooth cream sauce that binds the fish.
Milk
Forms the liquid base of the cream sauce, giving it body and richness.
Butter
Adds fat and flavor to the cream sauce and helps the crumb topping brown.
Cracker crumbs
Form a crisp, browned topping that contrasts with the soft fish and sauce.

The step that matters

Gradually add milk to the sauce. Adding milk slowly to the butter and flour mixture lets the starch hydrate evenly, preventing lumps and producing a smooth, thickened sauce.

“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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