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Fish Relish

A baked dish of layered mashed potatoes, minced fish, roe, eggs, and butter.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 10 ingredients
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Why it works: Parsley and pepper match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 34,122 recipes. Both carry 4'-methylacetophenone, which smells bitter almond. The science ↓

Fish Relish

Ingredients

Directions

The book gives no oven temperature. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.

Prepare

  1. Dry the boiled roe and mince the fish finely.

  2. Mix the roe with the butter and the yolks of the boiled eggs.

  3. Cut the egg whites into thin rings.

Layer and bake

  1. In a deep buttered dish, layer mashed potatoes, fish, drawn butter, and egg white rings.

  2. Repeat layers, finishing with mashed potatoes on top.

  3. Cover and bake at 400°F (200°C) until it smokes and bubbles.

  4. Remove the cover for a few minutes to brown.

Serve

  1. Serve in the baking dish with pickles.

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

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

  2. Potato + parsleytop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,855 recipes

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

  3. Potato + peppertop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together8,305 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  4. Butter + fishtop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,488 recipes

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

  5. Butter + potatotop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together6,456 recipes

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

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

What each ingredient does

Drawn butter
Adds richness and moisture, carrying flavour through the layers as it melts into the dish.
Mashed potato
Forms the soft, bulky layers that hold the fish and keep the dish moist.
Hard boiled eggs
Yolks bind with the roe and butter to give a smooth, rich filling; whites add texture.
Cod, halibut, or shad
Provides the main fish flavour and a tender, flaky texture when minced finely.
Roe of cod or shad
Adds a rich, savoury flavour and a firm, grainy texture to the filling.

The step that matters

Cover and bake until it smokes and bubbles. Baking covered traps steam so the layers heat through evenly and stay moist; the final uncovered minutes then drive off surface moisture so the top can brown.

Swap the potato

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (butter, egg, fish, roe, parsley, pepper):

  1. Potatothe original
  2. Chivefits about as well
  3. Shallotfits about as well
  4. Capsicumfits less well

Fit is the average pairing score against butter, egg, fish, roe, parsley, 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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