Why it works: Butter and cream are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 8% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 41,516 recipes. Both carry delta-dodecalactone, which smells sweet, creamy. The science ↓
Finnan Haddie
Ingredients
Directions
Pick up and cook the Finnan haddie in fresh butter.
Add the cream, hard-boiled egg, raw egg yolk, and grated cheese.
Thicken with a cream sauce and season with salt and pepper.
Cook slowly for 10 minutes.
Serve in a chafing dish with small pieces of dry toast.
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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Butter + creamtop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together41,516 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
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Butter + cheesetop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together7,962 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
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Cream + cheesetop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together2,655 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
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Butter + eggtop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together118,967 recipes
Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).
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Cheese + peppertop 18% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together7,861 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
- Finnan haddie
- Provides the main flavour and flaked texture of the dish.
- Fresh butter
- Adds richness and carries flavour while the fish cooks.
- Cream
- Forms the body of the sauce and adds moisture and richness.
- Raw egg yolk
- Enriches and thickens the sauce as it heats gently.
- Hard-boiled egg
- Adds soft texture and mild egg flavour through the sauce.
The step that matters
Cook slowly for 10 minutes. Egg yolk thickens the sauce only at gentle heat. If the pan is too hot, the yolk can scramble and curdle the cream, so keep the heat low and stir steadily.
“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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