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Scalloped Fish

Scalloped fish is baked fish topped with a cream sauce and buttered bread crumbs.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 4 ingredients
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Scalloped Fish

Why it works: Bread and butter are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 27,232 recipes. Both carry delta-decalactone, which smells sweet, creamy. The science ↓

Scalloped Fish

Oven, in the book's wordsA quick oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a quick oven”. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Prepare

  1. Remove skin and bones from the fish and flake it into medium-sized pieces.

  2. Mix the bread crumbs with melted butter and season to taste.

  3. Prepare the cream sauce and combine it with the flaked fish.

Assemble and bake

  1. Sprinkle half of the bread crumb mixture in the bottom of a pint baking dish.

  2. Add the fish mixture on top and spread the remaining bread crumbs over it.

  3. Bake in a 400°F (200°C) oven on the upper rack until the surface is light brown.

  4. Serve in the same dish.

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.

Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it

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. Bread + buttertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together27,232 recipes

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

  2. Cream + buttertop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together41,516 recipes

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

  3. Cream + saucetop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,787 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  4. Fish + breadtop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,668 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-undecenal (sweet).

  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

Fish
Provides the main body and protein of the dish, held together by the sauce.
Cream sauce
Binds the flaked fish and adds moisture so the filling stays creamy.
Stale bread crumbs
Form a crisp, golden topping and absorb butter as they bake.
Melted butter
Coats the crumbs so they brown evenly and add richness.

The step that matters

Baking until the surface is light brown. The top needs enough heat and time for the buttered crumbs to brown and crisp, while the filling heats through. Pulling it too early leaves a pale, soggy topping; too long dries the fish.

“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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