Why it works: Parsley and pepper match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 34,122 recipes. Both carry 4'-methylacetophenone, which smells bitter almond. The science ↓
Baked Ood
Ingredients
Directions
The book gives no oven temperature. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.
Prepare the fish
Wash the cod and remove the fins or skin it.
Dry the fish inside and out.
Mix the bread crumbs, dripping, parsley, salt, and pepper.
Moisten the mixture with the beaten egg and fill the stomach opening of the fish.
Dust the fish with a little flour and place it in a baking dish.
Bake and serve
Add 1 cup of milk to the dish and dot the top with butter.
Bake in a 350°F (175°C) oven for about 30 minutes, basting occasionally with the milk.
Serve the fish on a hot dish and pour the sauce around it.
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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Parsley + peppertop 2% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together34,122 recipes
Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
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Bread + buttertop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together27,232 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).
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Butter + milktop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together81,283 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
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Bread + milktop 11% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together11,466 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-undecenal (sweet).
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Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Butter and flour barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 124,287 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Cod
- The main protein, which flakes into moist pieces when baked gently.
- Bread crumbs
- Absorb the egg and fat to form a binding stuffing that holds the fish's moisture.
- Egg
- Binds the bread crumb stuffing so it holds together in the fish cavity.
- Milk
- Forms a liquid around the fish that keeps it moist and browns slightly while baking.
- Dripping or butter
- Adds fat for richness and helps the top brown and the stuffing turn golden.
The step that matters
Basting with the milk. Fish is lean and dries out quickly in the oven. Spooning the milk over it during baking keeps the surface moist, so the flesh stays tender instead of tough.
Swap the parsley
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (bread, butter, pepper, milk, flour, egg):
- Nutmegfits about as well
- Cinnamonfits about as well
- Parsleythe original
- Capersfits less well
Fit is the average pairing score against bread, butter, pepper, milk, flour, egg. 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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