Skip to main content
Main

Fish Relish

A baked casserole of minced fish, eggs, and mashed potatoes seasoned with butter, parsley, salt, and pepper.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 10 ingredients
Jump to recipe ↓

Why it works: Parsley and pepper 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 Relish

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

  1. Dry the boiled roe.

  2. Mince the fish finely.

  3. Mix the minced fish with butter and beaten egg yolks.

  4. Season the mixture with salt and pepper.

Assemble

  1. Layer mashed potatoes at the bottom of a deep buttered dish.

  2. Add alternating layers of fish mixture, drawn butter, and rings of egg white.

  3. Cover the dish.

Bake and serve

  1. Bake in a 400°F (200°C) oven until bubbling.

  2. Remove the cover for a few minutes to brown the top.

  3. Serve in the baking dish with pickles.

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. Parsley + peppertop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together34,122 recipes

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

  2. Potato + parsleytop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,855 recipes

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

  3. Potato + peppertop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together8,305 recipes

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

  4. Butter + fishtop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,488 recipes

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

  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

Fish
Provides the main flavor and, once cooked, a firm, flaky texture.
Egg
Sets when heated, binding the fish mixture into a cohesive layer.
Drawn butter
Adds richness and moisture, keeping the layers from drying out.
Mashed potato
Adds body and a soft texture that supports the layers.
Roe
Adds concentrated flavor and a firmer texture to the mixture.

The step that matters

Remove the cover to brown the top. Covering traps steam, so the surface stays pale and moist while the dish heats through. Uncovering briefly lets surface moisture evaporate, allowing the top to brown through dry heat and the Maillard reaction. Leaving it covered too long gives a soft, pale top.

Swap the potato

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (butter, egg, fish, roe, parsley, pepper):

  1. Potatothe original
  2. Chivefits about as well
  3. Shallotfits about as well
  4. Capsicumfits less well

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

You might also like

Potato CroquettesPotato Croquettes255 recipesFried FishFried Fish120 recipesFish CroquettesFish Croquettes81 recipesPotato RollsPotato Rolls78 recipes