Why it works: Cream and butter are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 8% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 41,516 recipes. Both carry delta-dodecalactone, which smells sweet, creamy. The science ↓
Baked Fish
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 fish
Boil the fresh fish, remove the bones, and break it into pieces.
Make the cream mixture
In a saucepan, mix the cream or milk with the flour and onion.
Add the butter and stir until the mixture is hot and thickens like custard.
Bake and serve
In a baking dish, layer the fish, broken crackers, and the cream mixture.
Bake at 350°F (175°C) for 30 minutes.
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.
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Cream + buttertop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together41,516 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
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Fish + buttertop 12% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together4,488 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
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Flour + buttertop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Onion + buttertop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together42,912 recipes
Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).
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Flour + oniontop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together32,460 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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
- Fresh fish
- Forms the main body of the dish and provides its protein structure and flavour.
- Cream or milk
- Provides moisture and, once thickened, a creamy custard-like sauce that keeps the dish tender.
- Flour
- Thickens the cream mixture so it sets into a custard rather than staying liquid.
- Butter
- Adds richness and fat, smoothing the sauce and adding flavour.
- Crackers
- Soak up some of the sauce and add a light, crumbly texture between the fish layers.
The step that matters
Thickening the cream mixture. Stir the mixture over heat until it is hot and thick like custard. Flour thickens as its starch swells in hot liquid, so the sauce needs enough heat and stirring to set; if it is underheated it stays runny and the baked dish turns out loose.
Swap the onion
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (fish, cream, flour, butter):
- Leekfits better
- Potatofits better
- Chivefits better
- Onionthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against fish, cream, flour, butter. 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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