Name: Escalloped Fish
Ingredients: 2 pounds white fish, boiled, boned, and finely picked; 1 can mushrooms; 1 pint cream, thickened; 1 teaspoon onion juice; 1 good-sized lump of butter; salt and pepper to taste; rolled crackers for topping

Why it works: Mushroom and butter are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 12,525 recipes. Both carry trans-2-decenal, which smells waxy, orange. The science ↓

Escalloped Fish

Ingredients

2 pounds white fish, boiled, boned, and finely picked
1 can mushrooms
1 pint cream, thickened
1 teaspoon onion juice
1 good-sized lump of butter
salt and pepper to taste
rolled crackers for topping

Directions

The book gives no oven temperature. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.

Prepare

Preheat the oven to 400°F (200°C).
In a bowl, combine the fish and mushrooms.
In a separate bowl, mix the thickened cream, onion juice, butter, salt, and pepper.

Assemble and bake

In ramequins, layer the cream mixture, then the fish mixture.
Top with rolled crackers.
Bake for 20 minutes.

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 their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.

Mushroom + buttertop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together12,525 recipes

Shared aroma: trans-2-decenal (waxy, orange).
Cream + buttertop 8% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together41,516 recipes

Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
Mushroom + oniontop 10% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together10,626 recipes

Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
Onion + peppertop 11% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together68,474 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Mushroom + peppertop 11% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together13,580 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

White fish: Forms the main body of the dish, providing the bulk and flaky texture.
Thickened cream: Adds richness and moisture, helping the filling stay soft and creamy.
Butter: Adds fat for richness and flavor in the cream mixture.
Rolled crackers: Form a crisp, browned topping when baked.

Swap the onion

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

Potatofits better
Spinachfits about as well
Capsicumfits about as well
Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against fish, mushroom, cream, butter, 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.