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Fish Relish

A baked casserole of fish, eggs, mashed potatoes, and butter.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 10 ingredients
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Why it works: Parsley and pepper match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 34,122 recipes. Both carry 4'-methylacetophenone, which smells bitter almond. The science ↓

Fish Relish

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

  1. Preheat the oven to 400°F (200°C).

  2. In a bowl, mix the drawn butter with the beaten egg.

  3. Dry the roe by boiling it well, then mince the cold fish finely and season with salt and pepper.

Assemble and bake

  1. Combine the roe with the butter mixture and the yolks of the boiled eggs.

  2. Cut the egg whites into thin rings.

  3. In a deep buttered dish, layer mashed potatoes, fish, drawn butter, and egg white rings.

  4. Repeat the layers, finishing with mashed potatoes on top.

  5. Cover the dish and bake until it smokes.

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. Parsley + peppertop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together34,122 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

  2. Potato + parsleytop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,855 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

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

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

  4. Butter + fishtop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,488 recipes

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

  5. Butter + potatotop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together6,456 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

Eggs
Binds the butter mixture and sets during baking, giving the casserole its structure.
Drawn butter
Adds fat and richness, keeping the layers moist as they bake.
Mashed potato
Forms soft, starchy layers that add body and absorb the butter.
Cold fish
Provides the main flavour and a tender texture once baked.
Roe
Adds rich, savoury flavour and a delicate texture to the fish filling.
Hard boiled eggs
Yolks enrich the filling while sliced whites add firm texture between layers.

The step that matters

Dry the roe by boiling it well. Roe holds a lot of water. If it is not dried by thorough boiling, it releases liquid into the butter and fish mixture during baking, which can make the casserole watery and loose instead of set and sliceable.

Swap the potato

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

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

Fit is the average pairing score against butter, egg, fish, roe, parsley, 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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