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Smoked Haddock Rarebit

Serve cheesy rarebits with a herby green salad for a quick snacky supper

By bbcgoodfood · From Open Recipes · 8 ingredients
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Why it works: Haddock and butter work together. They rank in the top 9% of all ingredient pairs, and 764 recipes mention both. Both carry ethanol, which smells alcoholic, ethereal. The science ↓

The recipe

Serves 2
Prep15 min
Cook15 min

Ingredients

Contains: milk, wheat, fish (auto-detected from the ingredients and method; we can miss things, so check labels)

Directions

Method written by CompKitchen from the ingredient list. Not the original author's method, not kitchen-tested.

  1. Preheat the grill to high. Put the smoked haddock in a wide pan, pour over the milk, and bring to a gentle simmer. Poach 4 to 5 minutes until the fish is opaque and flakes, reaching 145°F (63°C). Lift out the fish, flake it, and keep the milk.

  2. Melt the butter in a clean saucepan over medium heat. Stir in the flour and cook 1 minute. Gradually whisk in the warm poaching milk and the ale or beer until smooth.

  3. Simmer the sauce gently 3 to 4 minutes, stirring, until thick. Take off the heat and stir in the wholegrain mustard and most of the grated strong cheddar until melted.

  4. Fold the flaked haddock gently into the cheese sauce, taking care not to break it up too much.

  5. Lightly toast the country-style bread slices on both sides under the grill or in a toaster.

  6. Spoon the haddock rarebit mixture thickly over the toast, sprinkle with the remaining cheddar, and grill 2 to 3 minutes until bubbling and golden. Serve at once.

By bbcgoodfood. Recipe from Open Recipes.

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much aroma chemistry they share, and how many recipes mention both.

  1. Haddock + buttertop 9% of all pairs
    Aroma overlaplow
    Mentioned together764 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  2. Milk + buttertop 3% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together81,222 recipes

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

  3. Beer + mustardtop 5% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapmoderate
    Mentioned together313 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

  4. Milk + beertop 6% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together298 recipes

    Shared aroma: methyl 2-methylbutyrate (fruity, apple).

  5. Butter + flourtop 6% of all pairs
    Aroma overlaplow
    Mentioned together122,858 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

Butter and flour share little aroma chemistry, yet 122,858 recipes mention both: they likely work on texture and structure more than aroma.

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

Flavor stand-ins for the mustard

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (haddock, milk, butter, flour, beer):

  1. Potatobetter flavor fit
  2. Capsicumabout as good a flavor fit
  3. Tomatoabout as good a flavor fit
  4. Mustardthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against haddock, milk, butter, flour, beer. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes. This compares flavor only: it does not check the job the ingredient does in the dish (bulk, moisture, acidity, structure).