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Fish Pudding

A baked fish and shrimp pudding with a butter‑flour sauce, topped with breadcrumbs.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 10 ingredients
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Why it works: Butter and bread are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 27,232 recipes. Both carry delta-decalactone, which smells sweet, creamy. The science ↓

Fish Pudding

Ingredients

Directions

The book gives no oven temperature. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.

Prepare

  1. Flake the fish and place it in a pie dish.

  2. Add a layer of shrimps, then season with pepper and salt.

Make the sauce

  1. Melt 1 oz of butter in a saucepan, stir in the flour.

  2. Gradually add the fish stock and milk, stirring continuously.

  3. Season with a little pepper, salt, and a few drops of anchovy essence.

  4. Boil for 2 minutes, then pour the sauce over the fish.

Bake and serve

  1. Sprinkle brown bread crumbs on top and dot with small pieces of the remaining butter.

  2. Bake in a 350°F (175°C) oven for 15 minutes.

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

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

  2. Butter + milktop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together81,283 recipes

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

  3. Fish + anchovytop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together637 recipes

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

  4. Fish + breadtop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,668 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-undecenal (sweet).

  5. Shrimp + anchovytop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together440 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

White fish
Forms the bulk of the pudding and flakes into tender pieces as it bakes.
Shrimps
Adds savoury flavour and a tender, slightly firm texture to the pudding.
Butter
Enriches the sauce and adds richness to the top as it browns.
Flour
Thickens the butter and milk into a smooth sauce that coats the fish.
Milk
Adds creaminess and body to the sauce.

The step that matters

Boil the sauce after adding the liquids. Flour must be cooked in hot liquid while stirring to thicken smoothly. Stirring continuously prevents lumps from forming as the milk and stock are added, and a short boil cooks out the raw flour taste and sets the sauce's thickness.

“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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