Why it works: Parsley and celery match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and 6,805 recipes mention both. Both carry 4'-methylacetophenone, which smells bitter almond. The science ↓
The recipe
Ingredients
Contains: egg, milk, wheat, fish (auto-detected from the ingredients and method; we can miss things, so check labels)
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.
Make the sauce
Heat 1 pint of milk with a bay leaf, parsley, celery seed, onion, and mace in a double boiler until scalded.
Rub together 1 tablespoon of butter and 2 tablespoons of flour in a bowl until smooth, then stir the mixture into the hot milk.
Add 1 teaspoon of salt, a dash of pepper, and the beaten yolks of 2 eggs.
Assemble and bake
Layer sauce, flaked cooked fish, and sauce again in a baking dish, finishing with sauce on top.
Sprinkle with bread crumbs and bake at 400 °F (200 °C) for 10 to 15 minutes or until browned.
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 aroma chemistry they share, and how many recipes mention both.
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Parsley + celerytop 2% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together6,805 recipes
Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
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Parsley + peppertop 2% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together34,118 recipes
Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
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Celery + peppertop 3% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together16,001 recipes
Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
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Milk + buttertop 3% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together81,222 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
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Celery + oniontop 5% of all pairsAroma overlapmoderateMentioned together18,506 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Milk
- Forms the liquid base of the sauce that carries the dish's flavour and moisture.
- Flour
- Thickens the milk into a smooth sauce when cooked with butter.
- Butter
- Enriches the sauce and, with flour, helps form a smooth roux.
- Egg yolks
- Add richness and help set and thicken the sauce.
- Cooked fish
- Provides the main body and flavour of the dish, layered through the sauce.
- Bread crumbs
- Form a crisp topping that browns in the oven.
The step that matters
Adding the egg yolks to the hot sauce. If the hot sauce is added to the yolks too quickly or the yolks are added to a very hot sauce, they can scramble and turn grainy. Adding yolks gradually, with stirring, keeps the sauce smooth and lightly thickened.
Flavor stand-ins for the mace
The recipe marks mace as optional. How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (milk, parsley, celery, onion, butter, flour, pepper):
- Thymebetter flavor fit
- Marjorambetter flavor fit
- Dillbetter flavor fit
- Macethe original
Fit is the average pairing score against milk, parsley, celery, onion, butter, flour, 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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