Why it works: Anchovy and sauce are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,057 recipes. Both carry ethanol, which smells alcoholic, ethereal. The science ↓
Fish Scallop
Ingredients
Directions
Make the filling
In a stew-pan, combine the fish, cream, anchovy sauce, mustard, walnut catsup, pepper, and salt.
Heat the mixture over medium heat, stirring occasionally until nearly hot, but do not let it boil.
Bake and serve
Transfer the fish mixture to a deep dish or scallop shell and top with a generous amount of bread crumbs.
Dot the top with small pieces of butter.
Place in a Dutch oven before the fire and cook for about 30 minutes 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 their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.
-
Anchovy + saucetop 2% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together2,057 recipes
Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
-
Mustard + walnuttop 9% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together849 recipes
Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).
-
Mustard + peppertop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together15,430 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
-
Fish + anchovytop 9% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together637 recipes
Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).
-
Cream + saucetop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together4,787 recipes
Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
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, giving it substance and a flaky texture.
- Cream
- Adds moisture and richness, helping the fish mixture stay soft and cohesive.
- Bread crumbs
- Form a crisp topping that browns in the oven and adds texture.
- Butter
- Adds fat that melts over the crumbs, promoting browning and richness.
- Prepared mustard
- Adds sharp, pungent flavour that balances the richness of the cream.
The step that matters
Heat the mixture without boiling. Heating gently until just hot keeps the cream from curdling or separating and keeps the fish tender, while boiling can make the mixture grainy and tough.
Swap the walnut
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (fish, cream, anchovy, sauce, mustard, pepper, bread):
- Beansfits better
- Chestnutfits about as well
- Walnutthe original
- Chickpeafits about as well
Fit is the average pairing score against fish, cream, anchovy, sauce, mustard, pepper, bread. 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.
You might also like
Brown Bread461 recipes
Fried Fish120 recipes
Fish Croquettes81 recipes
White Bread80 recipesThe free Flavor Lab newsletter: one surprising pairing a week and the molecular reason it works, in 60 seconds. No spam, unsubscribe anytime.
Prefer an account? Create a free account to save pairings and unlock the full chemistry.