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Whitefish, Pike, Bass, Etc

Whole fish, such as whitefish, pike, or bass, is dredged, stuffed with bread crumbs, optionally topped with salt pork, and baked.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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Why it works: Fish and bread are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 10% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,668 recipes. Both carry 2-undecenal, which smells sweet. The science ↓

Whitefish, Pike, Bass, Etc

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 the fish

  1. Clean the fish thoroughly inside and out.

  2. Immerse the fish in cold water and wash quickly.

  3. Wipe the fish gently with a clean napkin.

  4. Dredge the fish all over with flour.

  5. Dust the fish with pepper and salt.

Stuff and bake

  1. Fill the fish with stuffing made from bread crumbs.

  2. If using half a fish, place two slices of salt pork on top of the stuffing.

  3. If using a whole fish, place the salt pork on top of the fish.

  4. Dredge the fish again with flour.

  5. Place the fish in a pan just wide enough for it.

  6. Bake in a hot oven at 400°F (200°C) for one hour.

Serve

  1. Lift the fish carefully to avoid breaking.

  2. Serve the fish on a platter.

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

    Shared aroma: 2-undecenal (sweet).

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

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

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

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

  4. Pepper + porktop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together22,121 recipes

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

  5. Pepper + breadtop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together20,964 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

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

What each ingredient does

Whole fish
Provides the main body that is stuffed and baked, becoming flaky and moist as it cooks.
Bread crumbs
Form the stuffing, absorbing juices and keeping the cavity moist during baking.
Flour
Dries the fish surface and helps form a light coating that promotes gentle browning.
Salt pork
Adds fat that bastes the fish and contributes savory flavor as it renders.

The step that matters

Lift the fish carefully to avoid breaking. Cooked fish flakes apart because its muscle fibers separate easily when heated. Stuffed fish is especially fragile, so supporting it fully when moving it keeps the flesh intact.

“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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