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Stewed Haddock

A dish of haddock simmered in salted water, topped with butter, mashed potatoes, and egg whites, then baked until light brown.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 5 ingredients
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Why it works: Butter and potato are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 13% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 6,456 recipes. Both carry (z)-4-heptenal, which smells biscuit, cream. The science ↓

Stewed Haddock

Ingredients

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.

Poach the fish

  1. Place the haddock in a pan of salted water and simmer for 1 hour.

  2. Remove the head and lay the fish on a platter.

Dress and bake

  1. Pour drawn butter over the fish.

  2. Spread enough mashed potatoes to cover the fish nicely.

  3. Spread the whites of 4 eggs over the potatoes.

  4. Bake in a 400°F (200°C) oven 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.

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 + potatotop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together6,456 recipes

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

  2. Haddock + potatotop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together171 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  3. Haddock + buttertop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together764 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

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

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

  5. Haddock + eggtop 28% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together492 recipes

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

What each ingredient does

Haddock
Forms the main body of the dish and flakes into tender pieces when simmered.
Butter
Adds richness and moisture to the fish as it is poured over.
Mashed potatoes
Forms a soft layer over the fish that helps keep it moist under the topping.
Egg whites
Set in the oven to form a light, lightly browned topping.

The step that matters

Bake until light brown. Egg whites set and brown in the oven, so taking the dish out too early leaves the topping soft and pale, while baking too long can dry it out.

Swap the potato

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

  1. Potatothe original
  2. Chivefits about as well
  3. Asparagusfits less well
  4. Spinachfits less well

Fit is the average pairing score against haddock, butter, egg. 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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