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Fish Pudding

A baked dish of shredded fish, mashed potatoes, butter, egg, spices, and breadcrumbs.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 ingredients
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Why it works: Pepper and nutmeg match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 13,015 recipes. Both carry 4'-methylacetophenone, which smells bitter almond. The science ↓

Fish Pudding

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

  1. Preheat the oven to 400°F (200°C).

  2. In a pan, combine the cooked fish and mashed potatoes over low heat.

Make the mixture

  1. Add melted butter or sauce, beaten egg, salt, pepper, and nutmeg; mix well.

  2. Transfer the mixture to a buttered basin and press down firmly.

Bake and serve

  1. Bake in the oven for 10 to 15 minutes until hot.

  2. Turn out onto a hot dish and sprinkle with breadcrumbs. Serve with sauce if desired.

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. Pepper + nutmegtop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together13,015 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

  2. Potato + nutmegtop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,052 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

  3. Potato + peppertop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together8,305 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  4. Fish + buttertop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,488 recipes

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

  5. Potato + buttertop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together6,456 recipes

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

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

What each ingredient does

Eggs
Binds the fish and potato mixture so it holds its shape when turned out.
Mashed potatoes
Add body and softness, helping the pudding stay moist and tender.
Butter
Adds richness and moisture, keeping the pudding from drying out in the oven.
Cooked fish
Forms the main body of the pudding and gives its savoury flavour.

The step that matters

Press the mixture firmly into the basin. Pressing removes air pockets so the pudding holds together and sets into a firm shape when turned out. Loose packing can crumble or collapse.

Swap the potato

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

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

Fit is the average pairing score against fish, butter, egg, pepper, nutmeg. 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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