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Baking

Fish a LA Creme

A baked fish served with a creamy sauce of flour, cream, lemon, onion, parsley, nutmeg, and egg whites.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 12 ingredients
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Fish a LA Creme

Why it works: Lemon and parsley match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and 14,037 recipes mention both. Both carry beta-phellandrene, which smells minty, terpene. The science ↓

Fish a LA Creme

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.

Poach the fish

  1. Rub the fish with coarse sea salt and place it in a kettle with enough boiling water to cover it.

  2. Once it boils, reduce the heat and let it simmer for 1 hour.

  3. Remove the fish and carefully draw out all the bones.

Make the sauce

  1. In a saucepan, mix 1 ounce of flour with 1 quart of cream or milk until smooth.

  2. Add the juice of 1 lemon, chopped onion, parsley, nutmeg, salt, and pepper.

  3. Cook over low heat, stirring until it thickens.

  4. Strain the sauce through a sieve and set aside a little for serving.

Bake and serve

  1. Place the fish on a dish, pour the remaining sauce over it.

  2. Beat the egg whites until frothy and spread over the fish.

  3. Bake at 350°F (175°C) for 30 minutes or until light brown.

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 aroma chemistry they share, and how many recipes mention both.

  1. Lemon + parsleytop 1% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together14,037 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

  2. Parsley + peppertop 2% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together34,122 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

  3. Lemon + peppertop 3% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together27,047 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).

  4. Parsley + nutmegtop 3% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together5,062 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

  5. Lemon + nutmegtop 5% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together11,318 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

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

What each ingredient does

Firm salt water fish
Forms the main body of the dish and holds its shape after poaching.
Flour
Thickens the cream into a smooth sauce as it cooks.
Cream or new milk
Provides the liquid base and richness of the sauce.
Butter
Adds fat and richness to the dish.
Whites of 6 eggs
Whipped to a froth and set in the oven to form a light, browned topping.
Lemon juice
Adds acidity that brightens the rich cream sauce.

The step that matters

Beat the egg whites until frothy. Whites must be beaten to a stable foam so they hold air and bake into a light, set topping rather than running into the sauce.

Flavor stand-ins for the onion

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (fish, flour, cream, lemon, parsley, nutmeg, pepper):

  1. Spinachbetter flavor fit
  2. Shallotbetter flavor fit
  3. Arrowrootbetter flavor fit
  4. Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against fish, flour, cream, lemon, parsley, nutmeg, pepper. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes. This compares flavor only: it does not check the job the ingredient does in the dish (bulk, moisture, acidity, structure).

“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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