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Creamed Whitefish

A baked dish of whitefish in a creamy sauce topped with breadcrumbs and butter.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 ingredients
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Why it works: Butter and bread are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 27,232 recipes. Both carry delta-decalactone, which smells sweet, creamy. The science ↓

Creamed Whitefish

Oven, in the book's wordsA hot oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a hot oven”. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Prepare the fish

  1. Boil the whitefish in salted water until tender.

  2. Once cold, cut the fish into small pieces.

Make the cream sauce

  1. In a saucepan, make a cream sauce by combining milk, butter, and corn starch mixed with a little milk.

  2. Season the sauce with salt and pepper.

Bake and serve

  1. Butter a baking dish and layer the fish and cream sauce alternately.

  2. Sprinkle bread crumbs on top and add small bits of butter.

  3. Bake in a 400°F (200°C) oven until well browned.

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. Butter + breadtop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together27,232 recipes

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

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

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

  3. Milk + corntop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together6,955 recipes

    Shared aroma: hexanal (green, grassy).

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

    Shared aroma: 2-undecenal (sweet).

  5. Corn + peppertop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together5,324 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

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

What each ingredient does

Whitefish
Forms the flaky body of the dish, set in place by the sauce and baking.
Milk
Forms the liquid base of the cream sauce, giving it body and a mild richness.
Corn starch
Thickens the milk into a smooth sauce that holds the fish together.
Butter
Adds richness and flavor to the sauce and helps the topping brown.
Bread crumbs
Form a crisp, browned crust on top of the dish.

The step that matters

Bake until well browned. Cornstarch sauce thickens on heating, but the top only browns with enough heat and time. Pull it too early and the crust stays pale and the sauce may be loose.

“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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