Why it works: Pepper and lemon match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 3% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 27,047 recipes. Both carry trans-2-nonenal, which smells cardboard, fatty. The science ↓
Pike, Larded and Baked
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
Clean and lard the pike.
Stuff it if desired, and skewer it with its tail in its mouth.
Butter a baking dish and lay the fish in it.
Season with coarse sea salt and cayenne pepper.
Pour in 2 cups of flour and enough water to create a thin mixture.
Bake
Dot the fish with small pieces of butter and bake in a 350°F (175°C) oven.
When the fish is half done, sprinkle highly seasoned bread crumbs over it and baste occasionally.
Continue baking until the fish is lightly browned, about 30 to 40 minutes.
Serve
Carefully lift the fish onto a hot dish, squeeze a little lemon juice over it, and serve with sauce.
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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Pepper + lemontop 3% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together27,047 recipes
Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).
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Butter + breadtop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together27,232 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).
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Flour + buttertop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Butter + saucetop 15% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together15,338 recipes
Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
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Butter + lemontop 16% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together41,227 recipes
Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).
Flour and butter 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
- Pike
- Forms the main body of the dish, cooked whole and firm when baked.
- Butter
- Adds richness and moisture, helping the fish stay tender and brown on the surface.
- Bread crumbs
- Form a crisp, browned crust on the surface as the fish bakes.
- Flour
- Thickens the surrounding liquid into a thin mixture that coats the fish as it bakes.
- Lemon juice
- Adds acidity that brightens the rich flavour of the fish and butter.
The step that matters
Baking until lightly browned. Pike is lean and dries out quickly in the oven, so the fish should be checked near the end of baking and removed once it is just cooked through. Basting during baking keeps the surface moist while the crumbs brown.
Swap the lemon
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (pepper, flour, butter, bread, sauce):
- Lemonthe original
- Figfits about as well
- Avocadofits about as well
- Raisinfits about as well
Fit is the average pairing score against pepper, flour, butter, bread, 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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