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Mock Turbot a LA Creme

A baked fish dish with a creamy sauce, shredded haddock, and a breadcrumb‑cheese topping.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 13 ingredients
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Why it works: Cheese and bread are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,130 recipes. Both carry delta-decalactone, which smells sweet, creamy. The science ↓

Mock Turbot a LA Creme

Oven, in the book's wordsA moderate oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a moderate oven”. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Make the sauce

  1. Bring 1 quart of milk to a boil with the onion and parsley.

  2. In a separate bowl, rub together the flour and 1 cup of milk; stir into the boiling milk.

  3. Add salt, white pepper, and thyme to the sauce.

  4. Remove the sauce from heat and stir in the beaten egg yolks.

Assemble and bake

  1. Butter a baking dish and layer in the shredded fish.

  2. Pour a layer of sauce over the fish, then repeat layers until the dish is filled.

  3. Finish with sauce, then sprinkle with bread crumbs and grated cheese.

  4. Bake for 1 hour at 350°F (175°C).

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. Cheese + breadtop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,130 recipes

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

  2. Onion + parsleytop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together25,843 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).

  3. Cheese + milktop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,426 recipes

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

  4. Bread + milktop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together11,466 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-undecenal (sweet).

  5. Flour + parsleytop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together16,675 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

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

What each ingredient does

Haddock
Forms the main body of the dish, providing the flaked fish texture.
Flour
Thickens the milk into a smooth sauce that holds the layers together.
Egg yolks
Enrich the sauce and help it set to a creamy, custard-like texture when baked.
Milk
Forms the base of the white sauce, giving it body and a mild, creamy flavour.
Butter
Greases the baking dish and adds richness to the dish.
Cheese
Melts and browns on top, adding savoury flavour and a golden crust.

The step that matters

Stir the egg yolks in off the heat. Egg yolks thicken through gentle heat and can curdle or scramble if added to a boiling sauce. Removing the pan from the heat first lets them enrich the sauce smoothly.

Swap the onion

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (haddock, flour, egg, cheese, bread, milk, parsley):

  1. Potatofits better
  2. Chivefits better
  3. Shallotfits better
  4. Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against haddock, flour, egg, cheese, bread, milk, parsley. 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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