Why it works: Milk and butter are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 81,283 recipes. Both carry (z)-4-heptenal, which smells biscuit, cream. The science ↓
Fish Ramekins
Ingredients
Directions
The book says “a hot oven”. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.
Prepare the fish and sauce
Remove bones and skin from the fish and flake it apart.
In a saucepan, combine the milk or cream and make a cream sauce.
Fill and top
Pour the sauce into well-buttered ramekins, filling them not quite full.
Sprinkle lightly with buttered cracker crumbs.
Bake and serve
Bake in a hot oven at 400°F (200°C) for 15 minutes.
Serve in the ramekins.
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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Milk + buttertop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together81,283 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
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Fish + buttertop 12% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together4,488 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
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Fish + milktop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,432 recipes
Shared aroma: 4-heptenal (creamy, biscuit).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- White fish
- Provides the main flaked body and savoury flavour of the filling.
- Milk or cream
- Forms the cream sauce that gives the filling its moisture and smooth texture.
- Cracker crumbs
- Form a light topping that browns and crisps in the oven.
The step that matters
Filling the ramekins not quite full. The sauce expands and bubbles as it heats in the oven. Leaving headroom keeps it from overflowing and helps it set evenly into a custard-like texture.
“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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