Why it works: Haddock and butter work together. They rank in the top 16% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 764 recipes. Both carry ethanol, which smells alcoholic, ethereal. The science ↓
Baked Haddock
Ingredients
Directions
The book gives no oven temperature. The 350°F in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.
Prepare the fish
Make four or five incisions on each side of the fish, about 1 inch deep.
Fill the interior of the fish with veal stuffing and sew it up with kitchen twine.
Truss the fish with the tail in its mouth.
Rub butter over the back or coat with egg and breadcrumbs.
Bake and check
Place the fish in a baking dish and bake in a warm oven (350°F / 175°C) for 30 to 60 minutes, depending on the size.
Check for doneness by inserting a knife to the backbone; if the flesh parts easily, it is done.
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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Haddock + buttertop 16% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together764 recipes
Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
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Veal + buttertop 23% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together9,381 recipes
Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).
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Haddock + vealtop 29% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together30 recipes
Shared aroma: decanoic acid (soapy, waxy).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Haddock
- Forms the main body of the dish and cooks into flaky, moist flesh that separates into flakes when done.
- Veal stuffing
- Fills the cavity, adding richness and moisture while the fish bakes.
- Butter
- Adds fat that helps the skin brown and keeps the surface from drying out in the oven.
The step that matters
Checking doneness at the backbone. Fish cooks quickly and turns dry past its ideal point. Testing near the backbone shows whether the thickest flesh has flaked and turned opaque, which is the sign it is done.
“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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