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Fish Mould

A steamed fish cake made with shredded boiled fish, bread crumbs, eggs, butter, spices, and anchovy essence.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 ingredients
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Why it works: Bread and butter are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 27,232 recipes. Both carry delta-decalactone, which smells sweet, creamy. The science ↓

Fish Mould

Ingredients

Directions

Make the mixture

  1. In a bowl, combine the shredded fish, bread crumbs, eggs, butter, pepper, salt, cayenne, and essence of anchovy, and mix all ingredients well.

  2. Transfer the mixture into a buttered mold.

Steam and serve

  1. Steam the mold for 1 hour.

  2. Serve with butter sauce.

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. Bread + buttertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together27,232 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).

  2. Fish + anchovytop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together637 recipes

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

  3. Fish + breadtop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,668 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-undecenal (sweet).

  4. Bread + anchovytop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,260 recipes

    Shared aroma: hexanol (green, fruity).

  5. Fish + buttertop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,488 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
Bind the mixture and set it firm as the fish cake steams.
Bread crumbs
Absorb moisture and give the cake a soft, tender body.
Butter
Adds fat for richness and a moist, smooth texture.
Boiled fish
Forms the main body and flavour of the fish cake.

The step that matters

Steam gently for the full time. Steaming cooks the egg-bound mixture evenly; if the heat is too high or the mold is uncovered, the outside can overcook and turn rubbery while the centre stays loose. Keeping the water at a steady simmer and the lid sealed gives a firm, even set.

“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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