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Croutes of Haddock

A fried bread dish topped with flaked haddock, anchovy, egg yolk, butter, and seasonings, garnished with lobster coral.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 9 ingredients
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Why it works: Anchovy and lobster work together. They rank in the top 4% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 470 recipes. Both carry octanal, which smells fat, soap. The science ↓

Croutes of Haddock

Oven, in the book's wordsA moderate oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a moderate oven”. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Prepare the fish

  1. Soak the dried haddock until softened, then flake it.

  2. Melt the butter in a pan and add the flaked haddock.

  3. Pass the anchovy and hard boiled egg yolk through a sieve and mix with the fish.

  4. Season the mixture with salt, pepper, and cayenne.

Assemble and serve

  1. Pile the mixture onto the fried bread croutes in a pyramid shape.

  2. Smooth the top with a knife dipped in hot water.

  3. Heat in the oven at 400°F (200°C) until hot.

  4. Garnish with lobster coral or additional egg yolk and 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. Anchovy + lobstertop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together470 recipes

    Shared aroma: octanal (fat, soap).

  2. Haddock + anchovytop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together75 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  3. Butter + breadtop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together27,232 recipes

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

  4. Haddock + lobstertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together31 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  5. Anchovy + breadtop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,260 recipes

    Shared aroma: hexanol (green, fruity).

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

What each ingredient does

Dried haddock
Forms the flaked fish base that gives the spread its main body and savoury flavour.
Butter
Adds richness and a smooth, moist texture to the fish mixture.
Anchovy
Adds deep savoury, salty flavour that enhances the fish.
Hard boiled egg yolk
Enriches the mixture, adding creaminess and a mellow, rich flavour.
Fried bread croutes
Provide a crisp base that holds the fish mixture and contrasts its softness.

The step that matters

Heating in the oven until hot. Fish mixtures can dry out or toughen if overheated, while underheating leaves the centre cold. Heating just until hot keeps the flaked fish moist and the bread crisp.

“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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