Why it works: Potato and onion are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 3% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 9,023 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓
Fish Pudding or 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
Remove the skin and bones from the fish.
Break the fish into large flakes.
Make the sauce
Simmer the onion and mace in the milk for 20 minutes.
Strain the mixture.
Melt the butter in a pan. Add the flour.
Gradually stir in the milk until boiling.
Cook the mixture for 2 minutes.
Season well.
Add the fish.
Assemble and bake
Pour the mixture into a buttered pie dish.
Cover with mashed potato.
Sprinkle with browned bread crumbs.
Set in the oven at 400°F (200°C) until thoroughly hot.
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.
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Potato + oniontop 3% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together9,023 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Butter + milktop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together81,283 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
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Potato + peppertop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together8,305 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Milk + potatotop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together3,611 recipes
Shared aroma: (e,z)-2,6-nonadienal (cucumber, melon).
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Onion + peppertop 11% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together68,474 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Cold fish
- Forms the main body of the pudding, providing its flaky texture and substance.
- Butter
- Enriches the sauce and carries the flour, giving it a smooth, rich base.
- Flour
- Thickens the milk into a white sauce that holds the fish together.
- Milk
- Forms the liquid base of the sauce, which sets and binds the dish when thickened.
- Mashed potato
- Forms a soft topping that moistens the dish and helps it brown lightly in the oven.
- Browned bread crumbs
- Adds a crisp, golden top layer through browning in the oven.
The step that matters
Gradually stir in the milk until boiling. Adding milk slowly while stirring keeps the flour evenly dispersed, preventing lumps and producing a smooth, thick sauce that holds the fish together.
Swap the mace
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (fish, butter, flour, milk, potato, onion, pepper):
- Parsleyfits better
- Thymefits better
- Garlicfits better
- Macethe original
Fit is the average pairing score against fish, butter, flour, milk, potato, onion, 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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