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Fillets of Fish Cooked with Bread Stuffing

Baked fish fillets layered with bread dressing, salt pork, and buttered crumbs.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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Why it works: Butter and bread 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 ↓

Fillets of Fish Cooked with Bread Stuffing

Oven, in the book's wordsA hot oven

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

  1. Wash and pat dry the fish fillets, about ½ inch thick.

  2. Place butter bits in a shallow oval dish.

Assemble and bake

  1. Layer a slice of fish, then add bread dressing, followed by another slice of fish.

  2. Top with three strips of sliced salt pork.

  3. Bake in a hot oven at 400°F (200°C) for 5 minutes, then reduce heat.

  4. Baste frequently with broth or stock.

  5. About 20 minutes later, spread the top with buttered crumbs and brown delicately.

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. Butter + breadtop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together27,232 recipes

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

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

    Shared aroma: 2-undecenal (sweet).

  3. Fish + porktop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together668 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4-heptenal (creamy, biscuit).

  4. Fish + buttertop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,488 recipes

    Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).

  5. Bread + porktop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,371 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-acetyl-1-pyrroline (popcorn, roasted).

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

What each ingredient does

Slices of fish
Form the main body of the dish, cooking through while staying moist under basting.
Bread dressing
Fills the layers, adding bulk and a soft, absorbent texture between the fish slices.
Sliced salt pork
Adds fat and savory flavor as it renders over the top of the fish.
Broth from fish bones or plain stock
Keeps the fish moist during baking and adds savory flavor to the dish.
Buttered crumbs
Form a crisp, golden topping through browning.

The step that matters

Basting with broth or stock. Fish is lean and dries out quickly in a hot oven. Frequent basting with liquid keeps the surface and layers moist while the dish bakes.

“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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