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Baked Cod or Halibut

Baked cod or halibut coated with force‑meat and baked with butter, anchovy sauce, lemon, pepper, and parsley.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 12 ingredients
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Why it works: Anchovy and sauce are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,057 recipes. Both carry ethanol, which smells alcoholic, ethereal. The science ↓

Baked Cod or Halibut

Oven, in the book's wordsA moderate oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a moderate oven”. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Prepare the fish

  1. Soak the fish in very cold salt water for 2 hours, then wipe it dry.

  2. Make deep gashes in both sides of the fish.

  3. Rub the force-meat into the gashes and coat the fish all over.

Bake and serve

  1. Place the fish in a baking pan and pour thin drawn butter over it.

  2. Season with anchovy sauce, lemon juice, pepper, and parsley.

  3. Bake at 350°F (175°C) for nearly an hour, basting frequently.

  4. If the sauce thickens too much, add a little butter and water.

  5. Once done, transfer to a hot dish and strain the gravy over it.

  6. Garnish with capers or chopped green pickles if desired.

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. Anchovy + saucetop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,057 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

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

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

  3. Pork + oniontop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together18,214 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  4. Bread + anchovytop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,260 recipes

    Shared aroma: hexanol (green, fruity).

  5. Meat + porktop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together3,208 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-one (mushroom, metallic).

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

What each ingredient does

Cod or halibut
Provides the flaky, moist main body of the dish.
Force-meat
Fills the gashes and coats the fish, adding moisture and savoury flavour as it cooks.
Drawn butter
Adds richness and moisture, helping the fish stay tender and the surface brown.
Anchovy sauce
Adds salty, savoury depth that seasons the fish and the gravy.
Lemon juice
Adds acidity that brightens the rich butter and fish flavours.

The step that matters

Basting during baking. Fish is lean and dries out quickly in the oven. Frequent basting with the pan butter and juices keeps the flesh moist and builds flavour on the surface.

Swap the onion

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (meat, bread, pork, egg, butter, anchovy, sauce):

  1. Asparagusfits about as well
  2. Potatofits about as well
  3. Shallotfits about as well
  4. Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against meat, bread, pork, egg, butter, anchovy, sauce. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

“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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