Why it works: Fish and butter are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 12% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 4,488 recipes. Both carry (z)-4-heptenal, which smells biscuit, cream. The science ↓
Fish Pudding
Ingredients
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 base
Cream butter and flour together.
Add salt and pepper.
Heat milk in a double boiler.
Stir in the butter and flour mixture.
Cook for 5 minutes.
Add onion juice.
Make the fish mixture
Pass fish through a fine sieve.
Mix fish into the mixture.
Remove from heat.
Fold in beaten eggs.
Bake and serve
Butter a border mold.
Decorate mold with hard-boiled eggs and pimentos.
Fill mold with fish mixture.
Cover with buttered paper.
Place in a pan of hot water.
Cook in a 350°F oven until set.
Unmold onto a serving platter.
Fill center with fried potato balls.
Sprinkle with parsley.
Garnish with sprigs of parsley.
Serve with cream sauce.
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.
-
Fish + buttertop 12% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together4,488 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
-
Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
-
Butter + oniontop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together42,912 recipes
Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).
-
Flour + eggtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together106,462 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
-
Butter + eggtop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together118,967 recipes
Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).
Butter and flour barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 124,287 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Boiled fish
- Forms the main body and flavor of the pudding.
- Eggs
- Set when heated, binding the mixture into a firm, sliceable pudding.
- Flour
- Thickens the hot milk into a smooth base as its starch swells.
- Butter
- Adds richness and a smooth, tender mouthfeel to the base.
The step that matters
Cook in a 350°F oven until set. Egg proteins set at moderate heat and turn rubbery or curdled if overbaked. The hot water bath keeps the edges from cooking faster than the center, so the pudding stays tender and even.
Swap the white pepper
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (fish, butter, flour, onion, egg):
- Capersfits better
- Parsleyfits better
- Nutmegfits better
- White pepperthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against fish, butter, flour, onion, egg. 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.
More fish pudding recipes
You might also like
Fried Fish120 recipes
Fish Croquettes81 recipes
Scalloped Cod69 recipes
Broiled Fish68 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.