Why it works: Butter and bread match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 3% of all ingredient pairs, and 27,145 recipes mention both. Both carry delta-decalactone, which smells sweet, creamy. The science ↓
The recipe
Ingredients
Contains: 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
Remove all bones from the boiled fish and place it in a baking dish.
Make the sauce
In a saucepan, stir the flour and butter together until smooth, then add to the boiling milk.
Boil for 5 minutes, stirring constantly, then add pepper and salt.
Pour the thickened sauce over the fish.
Bake
Cover the top with stale bread crumbs and bake in a 400°F (200°C) oven until browned, about 15 minutes.
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.
-
Butter + breadtop 3% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together27,145 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).
-
Butter + milktop 3% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together81,222 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
-
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 + buttertop 5% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together4,432 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
- Fish
- Forms the main body of the dish and is the protein that the sauce coats.
- Flour
- Thickens the milk into a smooth sauce as it cooks.
- Butter
- Enriches the sauce with fat, adding richness and smooth texture.
- Milk
- Forms the liquid base of the sauce, which thickens with the flour.
- Stale bread crumbs
- Form a topping that browns in the oven for a crisp finish.
The step that matters
Stirring the flour and butter into the boiling milk. Adding the roux to boiling milk without smoothing it first can leave lumps, and boiling without constant stirring can scorch the milk-based sauce on the bottom of the pan. Stirring keeps the starch dispersed so the sauce thickens evenly.
“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.