Why it works: Pepper and lemon match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 3% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 27,047 recipes. Both carry trans-2-nonenal, which smells cardboard, fatty. The science ↓
Fish Pie
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.
Make the fish stock
Remove the skin and bones from the fish while it is still hot.
Simmer the bones and skin in ½ cup of water for 10 minutes.
Strain the liquid into a bowl.
Discard the solids.
Make the sauce
Blend the flour smoothly with the milk.
Pour it into the saucepan with the fish stock.
Stir until it thickens.
Add the salt, pepper, and a squeeze of lemon juice to the sauce.
Assemble and bake
Mash the potatoes with the dripping and a little salt and pepper.
In a greased pie dish, layer half of the mashed potatoes.
Add the fish.
Add some of the sauce.
Add the remaining fish.
Add the remaining sauce.
Top with the rest of the mashed potatoes.
Smooth the top with a knife.
Bake at 400°F (200°C) for about 30 minutes.
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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Pepper + lemontop 3% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together27,047 recipes
Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).
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Milk + buttertop 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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Potato + milktop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together3,611 recipes
Shared aroma: (e,z)-2,6-nonadienal (cucumber, melon).
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Fish + buttertop 12% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked 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
- Cooked potatoes
- Form the mashed topping that gives a soft, fluffy layer over the pie.
- Flour
- Thickens the milk and stock into a smooth, binding sauce.
- Milk
- Adds moisture and richness to the sauce, helping it turn creamy.
- Fish
- Forms the main filling, supplying the flavour and body of the pie.
- Dripping
- Adds fat to the mashed potatoes, giving them richness and a softer texture.
The step that matters
Stir the sauce until it thickens. Flour must be blended smoothly and cooked while stirring so starch swells evenly; lumps form if it is left unstirred or the flour is not mixed in first.
Swap the lemon
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (fish, potato, milk, flour, butter, pepper):
- Lemonthe original
- Coconutfits about as well
- Mangofits less well
- Figfits less well
Fit is the average pairing score against fish, potato, milk, flour, butter, 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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