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Finnan Haddie

A baked haddock casserole with potatoes, eggs, and pork fat, topped with buttered crumbs.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 14 ingredients
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Why it works: Potato and pork are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,668 recipes. Both carry sotolon, which smells curry, maple. The science ↓

Finnan Haddie

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the fish

  1. Soak 1 pound of finnan haddie in milk for 1 hour.

  2. Put the haddie in a skillet with cold water, heat over low until boiling, then simmer for 25 minutes.

  3. Drain and rinse the haddie thoroughly, then separate into flakes.

Make the sauce

  1. Cook ½ pound of fat salt pork slowly until brown and crisp, then set aside the scraps.

  2. In a pan, melt 2 tablespoons of the pork fat and add 2 tablespoons of flour, stirring until blended.

  3. Gradually add 1 cup of milk, stirring constantly until boiling.

  4. Add the finnan haddie, pork scraps, and 1½ cups of potato balls or cubes.

  5. Stir in 2 slightly beaten eggs.

Bake and serve

  1. Transfer to a buttered baking dish, cover with buttered crumbs, and bake at 350°F (175°C) until the crumbs are brown.

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. Potato + porktop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,668 recipes

    Shared aroma: sotolon (curry, maple).

  2. Butter + milktop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together81,283 recipes

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

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

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

  4. Pepper + potatotop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together8,305 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  5. Milk + potatotop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together3,611 recipes

    Shared aroma: (e,z)-2,6-nonadienal (cucumber, melon).

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

What each ingredient does

Finnan haddie
Provides the main smoky fish flavor and flaky texture of the casserole.
Flour
Thickens the milk into a smooth sauce when cooked with the pork fat.
Eggs
Set when baked, binding the fish, potato and sauce into a firm casserole.
Potato
Adds body and starch, making the casserole more substantial and filling.
Milk
Forms the liquid base of the sauce, providing moisture and creaminess.
Fat salt pork
Its rendered fat carries savory flavor and enriches the sauce; crisp scraps add texture.

The step that matters

Adding the milk to the flour and fat. Flour must be stirred in smoothly and milk added gradually while stirring constantly, so the starch disperses evenly and the sauce thickens without lumps.

“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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