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Farce De Poisson--fish Force-meat

A finely ground fish mixture with panada, butter, eggs, and cream used as a forcemeat.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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Why it works: Butter and cream are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 8% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 41,516 recipes. Both carry delta-dodecalactone, which smells sweet, creamy. The science ↓

Farce De Poisson--fish Force-meat

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Pound the fish in a mortar until finely ground.

  2. Add panada, butter, egg yolks, and egg whites, then mix well.

  3. Rub the mixture through a fine sieve.

Finish the forcemeat

  1. Set the mixture in a bowl on ice.

  2. Incorporate cream into the forcemeat.

  3. Adjust consistency with more cream if too firm.

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

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

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

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

  3. Egg + creamtop 24% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together42,166 recipes

    Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).

Egg and cream barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 42,166 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

Pike or bass
Forms the main body of the forcemeat and gives it its delicate flavor.
Panada
Adds starch and moisture that help bind the forcemeat and keep it tender.
Butter
Adds fat that enriches the texture and keeps the forcemeat smooth and moist.
Egg yolks
Add fat and emulsifying power that help bind the mixture into a smooth paste.
Egg whites
Provide protein that sets during cooking, giving the forcemeat structure.
Cream
Adds moisture and lightness, loosening the mixture to a smooth, spreadable consistency.

The step that matters

Set the mixture on ice before adding cream. Keeping the forcemeat very cold stops the fat from melting and separating, so the cream can be absorbed into a smooth, stable emulsion rather than a greasy or broken mixture.

“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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