Skip to main content
Main

Escalloped Fish

A baked fish dish layered with cracker meal and topped with a cream and egg mixture.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 ingredients
Jump to recipe ↓
Escalloped Fish

Why it works: Butter and milk are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 81,283 recipes. Both carry (z)-4-heptenal, which smells biscuit, cream. The science ↓

Escalloped Fish

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 the fish

  1. Boil the white fish until cooked, then let it cool.

  2. Remove the fish from the bones and break it into small pieces.

  3. Grease shells or individual dishes with butter.

Assemble

  1. Layer the fish in the dishes, followed by cracker meal, and season with bits of butter, salt, and pepper.

  2. Repeat layers until the dishes are full.

  3. In a bowl, mix the cream, milk, and beaten egg.

  4. Pour the mixture over the fish until it is well moistened.

Bake and serve

  1. Place the dishes in a dripping pan with a little water to prevent burning.

  2. Bake at 400°F (200°C) for 15 minutes until browned.

  3. Serve with drawn butter sauce flavored with Worcestershire sauce or chopped parsley.

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.

Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it

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 + milktop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together81,283 recipes

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

  2. Butter + creamtop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together41,516 recipes

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

  3. Fish + buttertop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,488 recipes

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

  4. Fish + milktop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,432 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4-heptenal (creamy, biscuit).

  5. Butter + eggtop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together118,967 recipes

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

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

What each ingredient does

White fish
Forms the main body of the dish, providing protein and flaky texture.
Egg
Binds the custard so it sets and holds the layers together when baked.
Cream
Adds richness and moisture, helping the custard set softly.
Milk
Thins the custard and moistens the fish and cracker layers as it bakes.
Cracker meal
Absorbs liquid and adds structure and light browning to the top layers.

The step that matters

Pouring the custard over the layers. The liquid must soak through every layer so the egg sets evenly; too little leaves dry pockets, while the water in the pan protects the dishes from scorching during baking.

“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

Fried FishFried Fish120 recipesFish CroquettesFish Croquettes81 recipesScalloped CodScalloped Cod69 recipesBroiled FishBroiled Fish68 recipes