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Salt-fish Pie

A savory pie made with salted fish, potatoes, butter, milk, and egg.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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Why it works: Butter and milk are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 81,283 recipes. Both carry (z)-4-heptenal, which smells biscuit, cream. The science ↓

Salt-fish Pie

Ingredients

Directions

The book gives no oven temperature. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.

Prepare

  1. Break the fish into flakes and mash the potatoes.

  2. Butter a pie dish.

Layer the pie

  1. Layer half of the mashed potatoes in the bottom of the dish.

  2. Add a layer of fish.

  3. Sprinkle pepper and small pieces of butter over the fish.

  4. Repeat the layers of fish and potatoes until all ingredients are used, finishing with potatoes on top.

  5. Beat the egg and mix it with the milk.

  6. Pour the egg-milk mixture over the layered fish and potatoes.

  7. Dot the top with remaining butter.

Bake and serve

  1. Bake at 350°F (175°C) until golden brown.

  2. Serve hot.

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. Butter + milktop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together81,283 recipes

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

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

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

  3. Potato + milktop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together3,611 recipes

    Shared aroma: (e,z)-2,6-nonadienal (cucumber, melon).

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

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

  5. Fish + milktop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,432 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4-heptenal (creamy, biscuit).

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

What each ingredient does

Salt fish
Provides the main savoury flavour and flaky filling of the pie.
Potatoes
Form the soft, starchy layers that give the pie its body and bulk.
Egg
Sets with the milk when baked, binding the layers into a firm custard.
Milk
Moistens the layers and, with the egg, forms a custard that keeps the pie creamy.
Butter
Adds richness and fat, and browns the top during baking.

The step that matters

Pour the egg-milk mixture over the layers. The egg-milk mixture must reach all the layers evenly so the egg can set into a custard that binds the fish and potatoes. Pouring it too fast or unevenly can leave dry pockets or a loose, watery texture.

Swap the potato

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

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

Fit is the average pairing score against fish, egg, butter, milk, 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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