Why it works: Parmesan cheese and cheese match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and 1,040 recipes mention both. Both carry ethyl 2-methylbutyrate, which smells fruity, apple. 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
Prepare a well-seasoned purée of young spinach, adding a little thick sweet cream and a piece of fresh butter.
Spread a thick layer of the spinach mixture on the bottom of a flat, fire-proof baking dish.
Poach the fish fillets in salted boiling water until just firm, then drain them.
Lay the poached fish on top of the spinach in the baking dish.
Top and bake
Spread a layer of cream sauce over the fish.
Top the sauce with a mixture of grated Parmesan and Gruyère cheese.
Sprinkle lightly with dried bread crumbs and add dots of butter.
Bake in the oven at 400 °F (200 °C) until golden brown and serve in the same dish.
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.
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Parmesan cheese + cheesetop 2% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together1,040 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl 2-methylbutyrate (fruity, apple).
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Butter + breadtop 3% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together27,145 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).
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Cheese + breadtop 3% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together2,130 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).
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Butter + parmesan cheesetop 3% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together4,158 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
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Butter + cheesetop 3% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together7,955 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Young spinach
- Forms the bed of purée that gives the dish its body and its green flavour.
- Thick sweet cream
- Adds richness and moisture to the spinach purée, softening its texture.
- Fresh butter
- Adds fat for richness and helps the top brown as it bakes.
- Sole fillets (or other fine fish)
- Forms the delicate main layer, which turns flaky and firm when poached.
- Grated parmesan cheese
- Melts and browns on top, adding savoury flavour and a golden crust.
- Grated gruyère cheese
- Melts into the topping and browns, adding nutty flavour and a stretchy texture.
The step that matters
Poach the fish until just firm. Fine fish flakes and dries out quickly with heat. Poaching only until it is just firm keeps it moist, since it will cook a little more in the oven.
Flavor stand-ins for the spinach
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (cream, butter, fish, sauce, parmesan cheese, cheese, bread):
- Tomatobetter flavor fit
- Potatobetter flavor fit
- Asparagusbetter flavor fit
- Spinachthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against cream, butter, fish, sauce, parmesan cheese, cheese, bread. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes. This compares flavor only: it does not check the job the ingredient does in the dish (bulk, moisture, acidity, structure).
“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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