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Tukbat a LA Creme

A baked whitefish dish with a creamy sauce, topped with cracker crumbs and cheese.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 11 ingredients
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Why it works: Parsley and thyme 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

Oven, in the book's wordsA moderate oven

Ingredients

Contains: egg, milk, wheat, fish (auto-detected from the ingredients and method; we can miss things, so check labels)

Also mentioned in the method: fish

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 fish

  1. Boil the whitefish until cooked.

  2. Remove all bones and shred the fish finely.

Make the sauce

  1. In a pot, bring the milk, onion, and parsley to a boil.

  2. Stir in the flour and egg yolks.

  3. Season with white pepper, thyme, and salt.

Assemble and bake

  1. In a baking pan, layer the sauce and fish alternately, finishing with sauce on top.

  2. Sprinkle with cracker crumbs and a light grating of cheese.

  3. Bake at 350°F (175°C) for one hour.

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 aroma chemistry they share, and how many recipes mention both.

  1. Parsley + thymetop 1% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together9,057 recipes

    Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).

  2. Onion + thymetop 5% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapmoderate
    Mentioned together11,172 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

  3. Parsley + white peppertop 5% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapmoderate
    Mentioned together1,451 recipes

    Shared aroma: myrcene (balsamic, herbaceous).

  4. White pepper + thymetop 6% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapmoderate
    Mentioned together443 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

  5. Onion + parsleytop 6% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together25,834 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

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

What each ingredient does

Whitefish
Forms the bulk of the dish and gives it its main flavor and body.
Milk
Forms the liquid base of the sauce, giving it creaminess and body.
Flour
Thickens the milk into a smooth sauce that holds the fish together.
Egg yolks
Enrich the sauce and help it set firm and smooth in the oven.
Cheese
Melts and browns on top, adding savory flavor and a golden crust.

The step that matters

Stirring the flour and egg yolks into the sauce. Egg yolks can curdle or scramble if the sauce is too hot when they are added, leaving a grainy texture. Adding them off the heat or after the sauce cools slightly, while stirring steadily, keeps the sauce smooth and creamy.

Flavor stand-ins for the white pepper

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (whitefish, milk, onion, parsley, flour, egg, thyme):

  1. Dillbetter flavor fit
  2. Celerybetter flavor fit
  3. Marjorambetter flavor fit
  4. White pepperthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against whitefish, milk, onion, parsley, flour, egg, thyme. 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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