Why it works: Fish and bread are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 10% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,668 recipes. Both carry 2-undecenal, which smells sweet. The science ↓
Scalloped Fish
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.
Prepare the fish
If using dried fish, soak it first.
Shred the fish.
Assemble and bake
Arrange layers of fish, rice or potatoes, and white sauce in a baking dish.
Sprinkle the top with bread crumbs.
Bake at 400°F (200°C) until golden.
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.
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Fish + breadtop 10% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,668 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-undecenal (sweet).
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Rice + breadtop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,259 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-acetyl-1-pyrroline (popcorn, roasted).
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Fish + ricetop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together270 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Fish + saucetop 20% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together1,487 recipes
Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
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Sauce + ricetop 20% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together2,396 recipes
Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Fish
- Provides the main protein and savory flavor, forming the body of the dish.
- White sauce
- Adds moisture and creaminess, binding the layers and keeping them from drying out.
- Rice or potatoes
- Adds bulk and starch, giving the dish a soft, tender body between the fish layers.
- Bread crumbs
- Browns in the oven to form a golden, crisp topping over the soft layers.
The step that matters
Bake at 400°F (200°C) until golden. Bake only until the topping browns. Longer baking dries the moist white sauce and fish, while too short a bake leaves the crumbs pale and the layers under-heated.
“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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