Why it works: Fish and bread match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 4% of all ingredient pairs, and 1,661 recipes mention both. Both carry 2-undecenal, which smells sweet. The science ↓
The recipe
Ingredients
Contains: egg, milk, wheat, fish (auto-detected from the ingredients and method; we can miss things, so check labels)
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 fish
Boil the cod fish in salt water until the bones slip out easily.
Place the fish in a deep dish.
Make the sauce
In a bowl, mix boiling milk with the beaten egg and flour, stirring until thickened.
Pour the cream mixture over the fish.
Bake and serve
Cover with bread or cracker crumbs.
Bake in a 400°F (200°C) oven until browned.
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 aroma chemistry they share, and how many recipes mention both.
-
Fish + breadtop 4% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together1,661 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-undecenal (sweet).
-
Milk + breadtop 4% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together11,363 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-undecenal (sweet).
-
Fish + milktop 5% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together1,417 recipes
Shared aroma: 4-heptenal (creamy, biscuit).
-
Egg + breadtop 6% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together22,584 recipes
Shared aroma: (e)-2-octenal (fatty, green).
-
Milk + flourtop 8% of all pairsAroma overlaplowMentioned together76,993 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Milk and flour share little aroma chemistry, yet 76,993 recipes mention both: they likely 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
- Cod fish
- Forms the main body of the dish, flaking into tender pieces once cooked.
- Milk
- Forms the base of the sauce, adding moisture and richness as it thickens.
- Egg
- Helps thicken the sauce and bind it as it heats.
- Flour
- Thickens the milk mixture so it coats the fish rather than running off.
- Bread or cracker crumbs
- Forms a crisp, browned topping in the oven.
The step that matters
Stirring the milk, egg and flour until thickened. Whisking the hot milk with the beaten egg and flour keeps the egg from scrambling into lumps and lets the starch thicken the sauce evenly. Stirring steadily while it thickens gives a smooth sauce that coats the fish.
“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
Illustration
Illustration
Illustration
IllustrationThe Sunday pairing: one pairing, the chemistry behind it, and how to cook it. No spam, unsubscribe anytime.
Prefer an account? Create a free account for sign-in; Pro adds the full results and chemistry.