Why it works: Haddock and sauce match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 200 recipes. Both carry ethanol, which smells alcoholic, ethereal. The science ↓
Haddock Pie
Ingredients
Directions
The book says “a good oven”. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.
Prepare the fish
Remove skin and bones from the haddock and cut it into neat pieces.
Place the fish in a pudding dish and sprinkle with pepper, salt, and lemon juice.
Pour the thick white sauce over the fish.
Assemble and bake
Mix the milk and butter into the mashed potatoes, then spread them evenly over the fish.
Smooth the potatoes and mark with a fork.
Dot the top with small pieces of butter and bake in a 400°F (200°C) oven for about 40 minutes.
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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Haddock + saucetop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together200 recipes
Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
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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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Milk + buttertop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together81,283 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
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Potato + peppertop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together8,305 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Potato + milktop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked 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
- Haddock
- Forms the main body of the pie and cooks through in the oven.
- Mashed potatoes
- Forms a topping that becomes soft inside and lightly browned on the surface.
- Thick white sauce
- Keeps the fish moist and binds it into a creamy layer under the potatoes.
- Butter
- Adds richness and helps the potato top brown in the oven.
The step that matters
Dot the top with butter and bake. Butter on the potato surface melts and promotes browning, while the oven heat must cook the fish through beneath the topping. Baking too briefly leaves the fish underdone, and too long can dry the potatoes.
“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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