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Bread

Croustades of Fish

Croustades of fish are bread rounds filled with a seasoned fish mixture, served hot.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 10 ingredients
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Why it works: Anchovy and sauce are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,057 recipes. Both carry ethanol, which smells alcoholic, ethereal. The science ↓

Croustades of Fish

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the croustades

  1. Cut rounds about 2 inches in diameter from the bread slices and scoop out the center, leaving ¼ inch thickness.

  2. Soak the croutades in thin cream, then drain them.

  3. Fry the croutades in hot fat until golden.

Make the filling

  1. Melt the butter in a pan, add the flour and milk, and boil well.

  2. Stir in the fish, cream, cayenne, salt, and lemon juice.

Assemble and serve

  1. Fill the croutades with the fish mixture and 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. Anchovy + saucetop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,057 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  2. Pepper + lemontop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together27,047 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).

  3. Bread + buttertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together27,232 recipes

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

  4. Cream + buttertop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together41,516 recipes

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

  5. Anchovy + fishtop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together637 recipes

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

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

What each ingredient does

Bread
Forms the crisp case that holds the filling, its center scooped out for room.
Butter
Enriches the sauce and carries flavor through the thickened base.
Flour
Thickens the milk and butter into a smooth, binding sauce.
Milk
Liquid that cooks with the flour to form the body of the sauce.
Cream
Adds richness and softness to the soaked bread and the fish mixture.
Cooked fish
Provides the main filling, bound into the sauce for a moist texture.

The step that matters

Frying the croustades until golden. Frying in hot fat browns and dries the bread surface, so it turns crisp and sturdy enough to hold the moist filling without going soggy.

“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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