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Forcemeat of Fish

A smooth paste made from boneless fish, egg, butter, salt, cayenne pepper, lemon rind, and herbs.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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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 ↓

Forcemeat of Fish

Ingredients

Directions

  1. Remove the bones from the fish and place it in a mortar.

  2. Add the egg and butter to the fish.

  3. Sprinkle in the salt and cayenne pepper.

  4. Pound the mixture until it forms a smooth paste.

  5. Incorporate grated lemon rind and powdered herbs as desired.

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

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

  2. Fish + buttertop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,488 recipes

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

  3. Fish + lemontop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together1,889 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

  4. Butter + lemontop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together41,227 recipes

    Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).

  5. Egg + buttertop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together118,967 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

Fish
Provides the main body and structure of the forcemeat once pounded smooth.
Egg
Binds the mixture and helps it set firm when cooked.
Butter
Adds fat for a rich, tender texture and moisture.

The step that matters

Pound the mixture until it forms a smooth paste. Thorough pounding breaks the fish fibres down so the proteins can bind with the egg and fat. A smooth, even paste gives a fine, cohesive texture; unpounded lumps make the forcemeat crumbly.

“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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