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Fish Relish

A baked dish of minced fish, roe, eggs, and mashed potatoes layered with butter and parsley.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 10 ingredients
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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

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.

Prepare

  1. Dry the boiled roe and mince the fish finely, then season.

  2. Mix the roe with the butter and the yolks of the boiled eggs.

  3. Cut the egg whites into thin rings.

Layer and bake

  1. In a deep buttered dish, layer mashed potatoes at the bottom.

  2. Add layers of fish, drawn butter, and egg white rings, alternating with more mashed potatoes.

  3. Cover and bake in a 400°F (200°C) oven until it smokes and bubbles.

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

Serve

  1. Serve directly from the baking dish and pass pickles on the side.

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

Drawn butter
Adds richness and moisture, carrying flavour through the layers as it bakes.
Mashed potato
Forms the base and bulk layers, adding body and a soft, moist texture.
Eggs
Yolks bind the roe mixture and the whites add firmness and structure to the layers.
Cold fish
Provides the main savoury flavour and substance of the relish.

The step that matters

Browning the top. Baking covered keeps the layers moist and heats them through. Uncovering briefly lets surface moisture evaporate and the top brown, but leaving it too long can dry the dish out.

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.

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