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Fish Au Gratin

A baked fish dish layered with onions, breadcrumbs, salt, pepper, and stock.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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Why it works: Onion and pepper are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 11% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 68,474 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓

Fish Au Gratin

Ingredients

Directions

The book gives no oven temperature. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.

Prepare the dish

  1. Wash and wipe fresh fish or flake cooked fish.

  2. Grease a pie dish and sprinkle with breadcrumbs.

Layer and bake

  1. Layer pieces of fish in the dish.

  2. Add a layer of sliced onion, salt, and pepper.

  3. Repeat the layering process until the dish is full, finishing with breadcrumbs.

  4. Add stock or water.

  5. Bake for 30 minutes at 350°F (175°C).

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. Onion + peppertop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together68,474 recipes

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

  2. Fish + oniontop 19% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together1,924 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).

  3. Fish + peppertop 21% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together3,948 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

Fish
Forms the main body of the dish and provides its savoury flavour.
Breadcrumbs
Form a crisp topping that browns in the oven and protects the fish below.
Onion
Adds sweetness and aroma as it softens and cooks in the layers.
Stock or water
Provides moisture that keeps the fish from drying out while it bakes.

The step that matters

Add stock or water. Liquid must be added so the fish steams gently and stays moist; without enough moisture the fish can dry out before it is fully cooked through in the oven.

Swap the onion

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

  1. Capsicumfits better
  2. Tomatofits better
  3. Potatofits better
  4. Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against fish, 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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