Name: Conger Eel Pie
Ingredients: 2 pounds conger eel, skin and bones removed; Salt, to taste; Pepper, to taste; Pounded mace, to taste; Oysters, enough to fill the pie dish; Strong gravy made from fish bones and oyster liquor; Pie crust, enough to cover the dish

Why it works: Oyster and fish work together. They rank in the top 9% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 496 recipes. Both carry (z)-4-heptenal, which smells biscuit, cream. The science ↓

Conger Eel Pie

Oven, in the book's wordsA moderate oven

Ingredients

2 pounds conger eel, skin and bones removed
Salt, to taste
Pepper, to taste
Pounded mace, to taste
Oysters, enough to fill the pie dish
Strong gravy made from fish bones and oyster liquor
Pie crust, enough to cover the dish

Directions

The book says “a moderate oven”. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Prepare the eel

Cut the conger eel into 1.5‑inch square pieces.
Season each piece with salt, pepper, and pounded mace.

Assemble and bake

Layer the bottom of a deep pie dish with seasoned conger pieces.
Add alternate layers of oysters and conger pieces.
Pour strong gravy over the layers.
Cover with pie crust and bake at 350°F (175°C) for 1 hour and 15 minutes.

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.

Oyster + fishtop 9% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together496 recipes

Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
Pepper + macetop 16% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together12,257 recipes

Shared aroma: myristicin (spice, warm).
Pepper + fishtop 21% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together3,948 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Pepper + oystertop 22% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together7,663 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Mace + fishtop 25% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together586 recipes

Shared aroma: alpha-pinene (pine, turpentine).

Pepper and mace barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 12,257 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

Conger eel: Forms the main body of the pie and sets into tender, flaky pieces as it cooks.
Oysters: Add briny, savoury flavour and a soft, rich texture between the fish layers.
Strong gravy: Adds moisture and savoury depth, keeping the filling from drying out in the oven.
Pie crust: Seals the dish so the filling steams gently and stays moist while it bakes.

The step that matters

Cover with pie crust and bake at 350°F (175°C) for 1 hour and 15 minutes. Sealing the filling under crust and baking gently lets the eel cook through evenly while the gravy thickens and stays moist. Too much heat or too little time can leave the fish dry or undercooked in the centre.