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Quenelles of Whiting

Quenelles of Whiting are poached fish dumplings made with breadcrumbs, eggs, and seasonings, served with sauce and peas.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 11 ingredients
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Why it works: Whiting and anchovy share more aroma than cooks usually use. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 82 recipes. Both carry ethanol, which smells alcoholic, ethereal. The science ↓

Quenelles of Whiting

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the mixture

  1. Soak the breadcrumbs in milk, then squeeze out excess liquid using a cloth.

  2. Melt the butter in a pan, add the breadcrumbs, and cook until they absorb the butter.

  3. Add the fish, beaten egg yolks, and seasonings. Pound the mixture together.

Shape and poach

  1. Dip two dessert spoons in boiling water.

  2. Shape the mixture into neat quenelles using the spoons.

  3. Place the quenelles on a well-buttered sauté pan, sprinkle with salt, and pour over boiling water.

  4. Poach gently until firm, about 10 minutes.

  5. Drain on a cloth.

Serve

  1. Arrange the quenelles in a circle on a round serving dish.

  2. Coat with Hollandaise, anchovy, or white sauce.

  3. Pile cooked green peas in the center.

  4. Garnish with powdered parsley and coralline pepper.

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. Whiting + anchovytop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together82 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  2. Milk + buttertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together81,283 recipes

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

  3. Fish + anchovytop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together637 recipes

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

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

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

  5. Anchovy + eggtop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,330 recipes

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Whiting
Forms the delicate, mild body of the quenelles once cooked and set.
Breadcrumbs
Soaked and dried in butter, they add body and help bind the fish mixture.
Butter
Enriches the breadcrumbs and adds richness and moisture to the mixture.
Egg yolks
Bind the mixture and enrich it, helping the quenelles set when poached.
Egg white
Adds structure and helps the quenelles hold their shape while poaching.

The step that matters

Poach gently until firm. Boiling vigorously can break up the delicate fish and egg mixture, causing the quenelles to crack or fall apart. Gentle heat lets the proteins set evenly into a firm, tender texture.

“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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