Name: Fish and Oyster Pie
Ingredients: 1 cup cold fish, flaked; 2 dozen oysters, cleaned; 1 cup bread crumbs; ½ teaspoon grated nutmeg; 1 teaspoon finely chopped parsley; 2 tablespoons melted butter; Salt and pepper to taste; Pie crust

Why it works: Parsley and pepper match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 34,122 recipes. Both carry 4'-methylacetophenone, which smells bitter almond. The science ↓

Fish and Oyster Pie

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

Preheat the oven to 400°F (200°C).

Make the filling

In a bowl, combine the cold fish, oysters, bread crumbs, nutmeg, parsley, and melted butter.
Season with salt and pepper to taste.

Bake the pie

Make a light pie crust and fill it with the fish and oyster mixture.
Bake in the preheated oven until the crust is golden 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.

Parsley + peppertop 2% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together34,122 recipes

Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
Nutmeg + parsleytop 3% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together5,062 recipes

Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
Bread + buttertop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together27,232 recipes

Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).
Nutmeg + peppertop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together13,015 recipes

Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
Fish + oystertop 9% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together496 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

Cold fish: Forms the bulk of the filling, giving the pie its main body and flavor.
Oysters: Add briny, savory flavor and a tender, moist texture to the filling.
Bread crumbs: Absorb moisture and help bind the fish and oyster mixture together.
Melted butter: Adds richness and moisture, and helps the crust and filling brown.
Pie crust: Encloses the filling and browns in the oven, providing structure and a golden finish.

The step that matters

Bake until the crust is golden brown. Baking long enough sets the filling and fully cooks the seafood, while stopping at the right colour keeps the crust from drying out or burning.

Swap the nutmeg

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (fish, oyster, bread, parsley, butter, pepper):

Thymefits better
Capersfits better
Marjoramfits better
Nutmegthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against fish, oyster, bread, parsley, butter, pepper. 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.

Brown Bread461 recipes

Fried Fish120 recipes

Fish Croquettes81 recipes

White Bread80 recipes

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Fish and Oyster Pie