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Quenelles or Pudding

A fish quenelle made from leftover salmon, milk, breadcrumbs, and seasonings, cooked by steaming in buttered molds.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 12 ingredients
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Why it works: Parsley and shallot match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 3,737 recipes. Both carry 2,4-decadienal, which smells seaweed. The science ↓

Quenelles or Pudding

Ingredients

Directions

Make the base

  1. Combine milk, bread crumbs, parsley, and shallot or onion in a saucepan.

  2. Bring to a boil until thickened, stirring to prevent burning.

  3. Let cool.

Make the quenelle mixture

  1. Pound the salmon until smooth.

  2. Mix in the cooled milk mixture, removing the onion and parsley.

  3. Add butter, egg yolks, whole egg, essence of anchovies, cayenne pepper, salt, and sugar.

  4. Mix well and strain through a wire sieve.

  5. Test a small piece in boiling water to ensure it holds together.

Cook and serve

  1. Prepare small or large buttered molds, covering with buttered paper if needed.

  2. In a large saucepan, line the bottom with paper and add water to half the height of the molds.

  3. Ensure the cover fits tightly and the water is boiling.

  4. Place the molds in the saucepan.

  5. Small molds will take about 30 minutes to cook.

  6. Drain excess grease before serving and pour sauce in the center.

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.

  1. Parsley + shallottop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together3,737 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).

  2. Parsley + peppertop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together34,122 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

  3. Bread + buttertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together27,232 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).

  4. Milk + buttertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together81,283 recipes

    Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).

  5. Milk + breadtop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together11,466 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-undecenal (sweet).

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

What each ingredient does

Salmon
Forms the main body of the quenelles and gives them their fish flavor.
Egg yolks
Add richness and help bind the mixture so it sets when cooked.
Whole egg
Helps bind the mixture and sets it firm during cooking.
Butter
Adds fat and richness, keeping the quenelles tender and moist.
Bread crumbs
Thicken the milk base and add body, helping the mixture hold together.
Milk
Softens the bread crumbs and gives the mixture a moist, smooth texture.

The step that matters

Testing the mixture in boiling water. The test piece shows whether the mixture will hold together. If it is too loose, the quenelles can break apart in the water, so the cook should adjust before shaping and poaching.

Swap the shallot

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (salmon, milk, bread, parsley, butter, egg, pepper):

  1. Potatofits about as well
  2. Asparagusfits about as well
  3. Chivefits about as well
  4. Shallotthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against salmon, milk, bread, parsley, butter, egg, pepper. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

“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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