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Fish Pie

A savory pie with mashed potato topping and parsley sauce over minced fish.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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Why it works: Pepper and parsley 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 Pie

Oven, in the book's wordsA hot oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a hot oven”. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Prepare

  1. Mince the fish and remove all bones.

  2. Place the minced fish in a pie dish and sprinkle with salt and pepper.

  3. Pour the parsley sauce over the fish.

Top and bake

  1. Spread the mashed potatoes smoothly on top.

  2. Dot with butter or dripping.

  3. Bake in a hot oven at 400°F (200°C) until browned.

  4. Serve hot.

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. Pepper + parsleytop 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. Fish + buttertop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,488 recipes

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

  5. Potato + buttertop 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

Mashed potatoes
Forms a soft topping that bakes to a browned, crisp-edged crust.
Cold cooked fish
Provides the main filling, flaked and held in the sauce.
Parsley sauce
Moistens the fish so the filling stays tender rather than dry.
Butter or dripping
Adds fat that helps the potato top brown during baking.

The step that matters

Spread the mashed potatoes smoothly on top. A smooth, even layer seals the filling and browns evenly. Gaps let the sauce bubble through and burn, while thin spots dry out before the centre heats.

Swap the potato

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

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

Fit is the average pairing score against fish, pepper, parsley, sauce, butter. 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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