Why it works: Shallot and flour match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 6% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,081 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓
Fish Klosh
Ingredients
Directions
Make the base
In a skillet, fry the minced ham or bacon and shallot in butter until just cooked.
Stir in the flour, then add the milk and let it boil gently for five minutes.
Mix in the egg and flaked fish, then season with pepper and salt.
Shape and poach
Spread the mixture on a plate and let it cool completely.
Once cooled, mold the mixture into small balls.
Poach the balls in boiling water or fish stock for five to six minutes.
Serve
Serve with anchovy sauce poured over them.
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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Shallot + flourtop 6% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together2,081 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Butter + milktop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together81,283 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
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Shallot + peppertop 11% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together5,898 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
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Butter + fishtop 12% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together4,488 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
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Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Butter and flour 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
- Flour
- Thickens the milk into a binding base that holds the balls together.
- Egg
- Binds the flaked fish and sets during poaching to hold the balls's shape.
- Butter
- Adds fat and richness to the base and carries the flavor of the aromatics.
- Cold fish
- Provides the main body and flavor of the balls.
- Milk
- Forms a smooth, thickened sauce with the flour that moistens the mixture.
The step that matters
Cooling the mixture completely before shaping. A warm mixture is soft and sticky, so it will not hold a ball shape. Cooling lets the starch and egg firm up so the balls keep their form in the water.
Swap the shallot
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (ham, butter, flour, milk, egg, fish, pepper):
- Potatofits about as well
- Asparagusfits about as well
- Capsicumfits about as well
- Shallotthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against ham, butter, flour, milk, egg, fish, 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.
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