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Gratin of Smoked Haddock, Spinach, Emmental and Crème Fraîche

By bbcfood · From Open Recipes · 5 ingredients
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Why it works: Spinach and haddock work together. They rank in the top 12% of all ingredient pairs, and 41 recipes mention both. Both carry ethanol, which smells alcoholic, ethereal. The science ↓

The recipe

Serves 4
Prep30 min
Cook1 hr

Ingredients

Contains: milk, fish (auto-detected from the ingredients and method; we can miss things, so check labels)

Directions

Method written by CompKitchen from the ingredient list. Not the original author's method, not kitchen-tested.

  1. Preheat the oven to 400°F (200°C). Rinse the spinach and wilt it in a large pot over medium heat with only the water clinging to the leaves, about 4 minutes. Drain, squeeze out excess liquid, and spread it in a shallow gratin dish.

  2. Slice the tomatoes into thick rounds and set aside.

  3. Place the smoked haddock in a wide pan, cover with water, and bring to a gentle simmer. Poach 8 to 10 minutes until the flesh is opaque, flakes easily, and reaches 145°F (63°C) in the thickest part. Drain, remove skin and bones, and flake into large pieces.

  4. Scatter the flaked haddock over the spinach, then arrange the tomato slices over the top.

  5. Spread the crème fraîche evenly over the fish and tomatoes, then grate the emmental over the surface.

  6. Bake for about 40 minutes until golden and bubbling. Rest for 5 minutes before serving.

By bbcfood. Recipe from Open Recipes.

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much aroma chemistry they share, and how many recipes mention both.

  1. Spinach + haddocktop 12% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapmoderate
    Mentioned together41 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  2. Spinach + tomatotop 4% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together1,350 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-decenal (waxy, orange).

  3. Haddock + tomatotop 14% of all pairs
    Aroma overlaplow
    Mentioned together128 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

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

Flavor stand-ins for the tomato

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (spinach, haddock):

  1. Potatobetter flavor fit
  2. Chivebetter flavor fit
  3. Mustardbetter flavor fit
  4. Tomatothe original

Fit is the average pairing score against spinach, haddock. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes. This compares flavor only: it does not check the job the ingredient does in the dish (bulk, moisture, acidity, structure).