Skip to main content
Main

Finnan Haddie

A baked smoked haddock served in milk with butter, optionally thickened with cream.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 ingredients
Jump to recipe ↓

Why it works: Haddock and cream work together. They rank in the top 6% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 181 recipes. Both carry ethanol, which smells alcoholic, ethereal. The science ↓

Finnan Haddie

Ingredients

Directions

The book gives no oven temperature. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.

Prepare the fish

  1. Preheat the oven to 400°F (200°C).

  2. Place the smoked haddock in a baking pan with the skin side down.

  3. Pour in enough warm water to just cover the skin.

  4. Bake for 15 minutes until the skin loosens.

  5. Remove the fish from the oven, peel off the skin, and discard the water.

Bake in milk

  1. Return the fish to the pan and cover it with milk.

  2. Dot the top with butter.

  3. Bake until browned.

Finish and serve

  1. If using cream, mix it with flour and boil until thickened, then pour over the fish before serving.

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. Haddock + creamtop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together181 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  2. Milk + buttertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together81,283 recipes

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

  3. Butter + creamtop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together41,516 recipes

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

  4. Milk + coffeetop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,202 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4-heptenal (creamy, biscuit).

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

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

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

What each ingredient does

Smoked haddock
Is the main protein, cooked gently until it flakes and takes on smoky flavour.
Milk
Keeps the fish moist and gently poached while it bakes, forming a mild sauce.
Butter
Adds richness and helps the top brown in the oven.
Flour
Thickens the cream into a smooth sauce when boiled.
Sweet cream
Adds richness and body to the optional sauce poured over the fish.

The step that matters

Bake until browned. Milk can scorch or boil over if the oven runs too hot, and the fish can dry out if baked too long. Watch the top closely so it browns without the fish toughening, since high heat makes proteins contract and squeeze out moisture.

“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.

You might also like

Fried FishFried Fish120 recipesFish CroquettesFish Croquettes81 recipesScalloped CodScalloped Cod69 recipesBroiled FishBroiled Fish68 recipes