Why it works: Pepper and lemon match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 3% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 27,047 recipes. Both carry trans-2-nonenal, which smells cardboard, fatty. The science ↓
Fish Pudding
Ingredients
Directions
The book says “a moderate oven”. The 350°F in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.
Prepare the fish
Mash the boiled fish thoroughly and pass it through a puree sieve.
Add the flour, pepper, onion juice, cream, salt, and lemon juice to the fish and mix well.
Make the mixture
In a saucepan, melt butter, then add the mixture and beaten eggs, stirring until well heated but not thick.
Bake and serve
Fill a ring mold with the mixture, pressing it against the sides.
Place the mold in a pan of water and bake in a moderate oven (350°F / 175°C) for 30 minutes.
Remove from the mold and fill the center with Parisienne potatoes, serving with rich cream sauce and chopped parsley.
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.
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Pepper + lemontop 3% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together27,047 recipes
Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).
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Pepper + oniontop 11% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together68,474 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Fish + lemontop 15% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together1,889 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Flour + eggtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together106,462 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Flour + lemontop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together30,404 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Flour and egg barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 106,462 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Eggs
- Bind the mixture and help it set into a firm, sliceable pudding when baked.
- Flour
- Thickens the fish mixture so it holds its shape rather than running apart.
- Cream
- Adds moisture and richness, keeping the pudding tender rather than dry.
- Boiled fish
- Forms the main body of the pudding, giving it flavor and structure.
The step that matters
Heating the mixture with the eggs. Eggs thicken when heated, so the mixture should be stirred only until warm and not allowed to become thick. Overheating at this stage can cause the eggs to scramble and make the pudding grainy.
Swap the onion
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (fish, flour, pepper, cream, lemon, egg):
- Spinachfits better
- Asparagusfits better
- Leekfits better
- Onionthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against fish, flour, pepper, cream, lemon, egg. 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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