Why it works: Butter and flour are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 12% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 124,287 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓
Boiled Pike with Egg Sauce
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the fish
Clean the fish in cold water and salt, then dry it on a clean towel.
Truss the fish in the shape of the letter 'g' by turning the head to one side and the tail to the other, securing them with a cord.
Boil the fish as directed in the recipe for Boiled Haddock.
Make the egg sauce
Boil the egg hard and let it cool completely.
In a saucepan, stir together the butter and flour over heat until bubbling.
Gradually add ½ pint of boiling water, stirring until smooth.
Season the sauce with 1 teaspoon salt, ½ teaspoon pepper, and a pinch of cayenne.
Keep the sauce warm in a basin of boiling water.
Remove the shell from the hard‑boiled egg and chop the egg finely.
Add the chopped egg to the sauce just before serving.
Serve
Serve the fish on a dish with the sauce poured over it, or on a folded napkin garnished with parsley, with the sauce in a sauceboat.
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.
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Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Flour + parsleytop 12% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together16,675 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Butter + parsleytop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together28,563 recipes
Shared aroma: trans-2-hexenal (green, leafy).
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Egg + flourtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together106,462 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Vinegar + parsleytop 16% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together6,477 recipes
Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
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
- Pike
- Firm white flesh that holds its shape during boiling and flakes when served.
- Butter
- Enriches the sauce and carries flavour, adding richness to the flour-thickened base.
- Flour
- Thickens the butter and water into a smooth sauce when cooked until bubbling.
- Egg
- Hard-boiled and chopped, it adds texture and body to the sauce.
The step that matters
Stirring the flour and water into the sauce. Adding the water gradually while stirring keeps the flour from forming lumps, so the sauce stays smooth and evenly thickened.
Swap the parsley
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (vinegar, butter, egg, flour):
- Tarragonfits better
- Capersfits better
- Jalapenofits about as well
- Parsleythe original
Fit is the average pairing score against vinegar, butter, egg, flour. 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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