Why it works: Parsley and marjoram match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and 1,979 recipes mention both. Both carry cuminaldehyde, which smells Spicy, cumin. The science ↓
The recipe
Ingredients
Contains: milk, wheat, fish (auto-detected from the ingredients and method; we can miss things, so check labels)
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 the fish
Preheat the oven to 400°F (200°C).
Prepare a rich forcemeat by mixing bread crumbs, fat pork, parsley, sweet marjoram, salt, and pepper.
Fill the cleaned cod with the forcemeat and secure the openings with small skewers.
Make four or five cuts on each side of the fish.
Dredge the fish well with flour and salt.
Bake and serve
Place the fish in a dripping pan with enough water to cover the bottom.
Bake until thoroughly done, basting with butter and tomato ketchup.
For gravy, stir a little flour and butter into the pan juices and serve hot.
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 aroma chemistry they share, and how many recipes mention both.
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Parsley + marjoramtop 1% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together1,979 recipes
Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).
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Parsley + peppertop 2% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together34,118 recipes
Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
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Marjoram + peppertop 2% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together2,609 recipes
Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).
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Bread + buttertop 3% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together27,145 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).
-
Pepper + tomatotop 4% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together17,913 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Cod
- Forms the main body of the dish, cooking to flaky, opaque flesh.
- Bread crumbs
- Absorb fat and juices to bind the forcemeat and keep the stuffing moist.
- Fat pork
- Adds fat that keeps the lean forcemeat moist and flavourful during baking.
- Flour
- Dusted on the fish and used in gravy to help thicken the pan juices.
- Butter
- Basted over the fish to add richness and promote gentle browning.
- Tomato ketchup
- Basted on the fish to add sweetness, acidity and colour to the surface.
The step that matters
Bake until thoroughly done. Cod turns dry and tough if overcooked, yet the stuffing must be fully heated through. Basting with butter and ketchup helps keep the surface moist while the centre cooks.
Flavor stand-ins for the tomato
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (bread, pork, parsley, marjoram, pepper, flour, butter):
- Carrotbetter flavor fit
- Potatobetter flavor fit
- Capsicumabout as good a flavor fit
- Tomatothe original
Fit is the average pairing score against bread, pork, parsley, marjoram, pepper, flour, butter. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes. This compares flavor only: it does not check the job the ingredient does in the dish (bulk, moisture, acidity, structure).
“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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