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Scandinavian Fish Pudding

A steamed fish pudding made with cod, flour, butter, eggs, milk, pepper, and sea salt.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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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 ↓

Scandinavian Fish Pudding

Ingredients

Directions

Make the base

  1. Melt the butter in a saucepan.

  2. Add the flour and mix well.

  3. Gradually stir in the milk, then add pepper and salt.

  4. Beat the eggs and mix them into the mixture.

Cook and serve

  1. Fold in the pieces of fish.

  2. Pour the mixture into a buttered mold.

  3. Steam slowly for 1.5 hours.

  4. Serve with lobster or Dutch sauce.

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

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

  2. Flour + buttertop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together124,287 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  3. Flour + milktop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together78,219 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  4. Flour + eggtop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together106,462 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

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

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

Flour and butter barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 124,287 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

Cod
Forms the main body of the pudding and gives it its flaky, tender bite.
Eggs
Set when steamed, binding the fish and milk into a firm, sliceable pudding.
Flour
Thickens the butter and milk into a smooth base that holds the fish in place.
Milk
Provides moisture and, with the eggs, makes the custard-like texture of the pudding.
Butter
Adds richness and flavour to the base and helps the flour cook smoothly.

The step that matters

Steam slowly for 1.5 hours. Gentle, low heat lets the egg custard set evenly without curdling or turning rubbery, which keeps the pudding moist and tender.

“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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