Why it works: Cream and butter are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 8% of all ingredient pairs, and 41,516 recipes mention both. Both carry delta-dodecalactone, which smells sweet, creamy. The science ↓
Finnan Haddie a LA Deltionico
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the fish
Remove gills from the Finnan haddie and pour boiling water over it; let it stand for a few minutes, then drain.
Make the sauce
Braise the fish in butter.
Add the cream, chopped hard-boiled egg, grated cheese, and raw egg yolk.
Season with pepper, thicken with flour, and cook for 7 to 8 minutes.
Serve
Serve on small pieces of toast.
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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Cream + buttertop 8% of all pairsAroma overlapmoderateMentioned together41,516 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
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Cheese + buttertop 8% of all pairsAroma overlapmoderateMentioned together7,962 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
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Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairsAroma overlaplowMentioned together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Cream + cheesetop 15% of all pairsAroma overlapmoderateMentioned together2,655 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
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Egg + flourtop 15% of all pairsAroma overlaplowMentioned together106,462 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Butter and flour share little aroma chemistry, yet 124,287 recipes mention both: they likely 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
- Finnan haddie
- Is the main fish, giving the dish its flavour and flaky texture.
- Cream
- Adds richness and moisture to the sauce.
- Raw egg yolk
- Enriches and thickens the sauce as it cooks.
- Grated cheese
- Adds savoury flavour and body to the sauce.
- Flour
- Thickens the sauce so it clings to the fish.
The step that matters
Thickening with the raw egg yolk. Egg yolk thickens when heated gently but can scramble if the sauce boils. Keep the heat low and stir steadily so the sauce becomes smooth rather than grainy.
“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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