Why it works: Thyme and parsley match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and 9,057 recipes mention both. Both carry cuminaldehyde, which smells Spicy, cumin. The science ↓
The recipe
Ingredients
Contains: egg, 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
Boil the fish until cooked, then remove the bones and flake the fish.
Make the sauce
In a saucepan, combine milk, thyme, parsley, and onion; simmer until well flavored.
Wet the flour and stir it into the milk mixture along with the butter; stir until thickened.
Strain the sauce over the egg yolks and season with pepper and salt.
Assemble and bake
In a pudding dish, layer some sauce, then fish, repeating until full, finishing with sauce on top.
Cover with rolled crackers and sprinkle with cheese if desired.
Bake in a 400°F (200°C) oven until browned.
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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Thyme + parsleytop 1% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together9,057 recipes
Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).
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Milk + buttertop 3% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together81,222 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
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Fish + buttertop 5% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together4,432 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
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Thyme + oniontop 5% of all pairsAroma overlapmoderateMentioned together11,172 recipes
Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).
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Fish + milktop 5% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together1,417 recipes
Shared aroma: 4-heptenal (creamy, biscuit).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- White fish
- Forms the flaky body of the pudding and gives it its main flavor.
- Milk
- Forms the base of the sauce, providing moisture and a creamy texture.
- Flour
- Thickens the milk mixture into a smooth sauce that holds the layers together.
- Butter
- Adds richness and fat, giving the sauce a smooth mouthfeel.
- Egg yolks
- Enrich and set the sauce, adding body and helping it hold together when baked.
The step that matters
Strain the sauce over the egg yolks. Adding hot sauce too quickly can scramble the yolks. Pouring slowly while stirring gently warms them so the sauce stays smooth and thickens evenly.
Flavor stand-ins for the onion
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (fish, milk, thyme, parsley, flour, butter, egg):
- Potatobetter flavor fit
- Shallotbetter flavor fit
- Carrotbetter flavor fit
- Onionthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against fish, milk, thyme, parsley, flour, butter, egg. 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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