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Gurnet or Haddock, Stuffed and Baked

A baked haddock stuffed with a breadcrumb mixture flavored with herbs, lemon, and suet.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 11 ingredients
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Why it works: Thyme and marjoram match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,225 recipes. Both carry terpineol, which smells pine, woody. The science ↓

Gurnet or Haddock, Stuffed and Baked

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

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

  2. Make a stuffing by mixing bread crumbs, pepper, salt, thyme, parsley, marjoram, lemon zest, lemon juice (or vinegar), and suet.

  3. Moisten the mixture slightly with milk or a beaten egg.

Stuff and bake

  1. Stuff the haddock with the mixture and stitch it up with a needle and coarse thread.

  2. Place the stuffed fish in a baking dish and cover it with dripping.

  3. Bake for 30 minutes.

Serve

  1. Remove the stitching thread, drain the fish, and serve on a hot fish napkin with lemon and parsley garnish.

  2. Prepare a milk sauce flavored with anchovy, ketchup, or other sauce to serve on the side.

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. Thyme + marjoramtop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together2,225 recipes

    Shared aroma: terpineol (pine, woody).

  2. Thyme + parsleytop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together9,057 recipes

    Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).

  3. Parsley + marjoramtop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,979 recipes

    Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).

  4. Parsley + lemontop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together14,037 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

  5. Marjoram + lemontop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together957 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

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

What each ingredient does

Haddock
The main fish that is cooked whole around the stuffing.
Bread crumbs
Absorb moisture and fat to form a soft, binding stuffing.
Suet
Adds fat that keeps the stuffing moist and rich during baking.
Lemon
Adds acidity and aroma that brighten the mild fish and stuffing.
Milk or egg
Moistens the crumbs so they bind together inside the fish.

The step that matters

Stitching the stuffed haddock closed. If the fish is stitched too loosely, stuffing can spill out and dry the exposed surface, while packing too tightly can prevent even heat penetration. Moistening the crumbs properly helps the stuffing hold together and stay tender.

“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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