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Scalloped Herring

A baked dish of salted herring and potatoes layered with milk, eggs, 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 ↓

Scalloped Herring

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

  1. Soak the salt herrings overnight.

  2. Remove skin and bones, then cut the fish into 1‑inch squares.

  3. Slice the cold potatoes.

Assemble

  1. In a baking dish, alternate layers of sliced potatoes and fish.

  2. Add a bit of butter and a good sprinkling of pepper to each layer of fish.

  3. Begin and end with a layer of potatoes.

  4. In a bowl, mix the milk and beaten eggs, then pour over the layered dish.

  5. Combine the bread crumbs with drawn butter and sprinkle on top.

Bake and serve

  1. Bake at 400°F (200°C) for about 40 minutes.

  2. Serve hot.

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

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

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

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

  4. Potato + milktop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together3,611 recipes

    Shared aroma: (e,z)-2,6-nonadienal (cucumber, melon).

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

    Shared aroma: 2-undecenal (sweet).

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

What each ingredient does

Eggs
Bind the milk into a custard that sets around the potatoes and fish as it bakes.
Milk
Forms the liquid base of the custard, keeping the layers moist as they cook.
Potatoes
Form the bulk of the layers, absorbing the custard and becoming tender in the oven.
Salt herrings
Provide the main savory flavor, softened by overnight soaking to reduce saltiness.
Bread crumbs
Mixed with drawn butter to form a topping that crisps and browns in the oven.

The step that matters

Soak the salt herrings overnight. Salt herring is cured heavily, and soaking draws out excess salt. Without enough soaking, the finished dish will taste overly salty.

Swap the potato

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (butter, pepper, milk, egg, bread):

  1. Capsicumfits about as well
  2. Potatothe original
  3. Asparagusfits about as well
  4. Tomatofits less well

Fit is the average pairing score against butter, pepper, milk, egg, bread. 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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