Why it works: Bread and butter are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 27,232 recipes. Both carry delta-decalactone, which smells sweet, creamy. The science ↓
Baked Fish
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
Clean and rinse the fish, then dry it with a cloth.
Rub the inside of the fish with salt and pepper.
Stuff the fish with bread stuffing or forcemeat.
Secure the fish with skewers or string, then dredge it with salt, pepper, and flour.
Place the fish on a trivet or perforated tin sheet in a baking pan.
Add plenty of butter or oil to keep the fish moist and baste frequently while baking.
Score the fish with gashes and insert pork strips if desired.
Bake and baste
Cover the bottom of the pan with hot water and bake in a moderate oven at 350°F (175°C) for the first hour.
Increase the temperature to 400°F (200°C) and continue baking, basting every 15 minutes.
Renew the water in the pan as needed, ensuring the bottom is just covered.
Bake for 1.5 to 2 hours, or 15 minutes per pound, until nicely browned.
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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Bread + buttertop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together27,232 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).
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Fish + breadtop 10% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,668 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-undecenal (sweet).
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Fish + porktop 12% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together668 recipes
Shared aroma: 4-heptenal (creamy, biscuit).
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Fish + buttertop 12% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together4,488 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
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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
- Fish
- Forms the main body of the dish, cooking through gently in the oven's moist heat.
- Butter or olive oil
- Adds fat that keeps the fish moist and helps the surface brown during baking.
- Flour
- Dredged on the outside, it helps the skin brown and form a light crust.
- Bread stuffing or forcemeat
- Fills the cavity, adding moisture and flavour as the fish bakes.
- Pork strips
- Optional strips inserted into the gashes, adding fat and savoury flavour as they cook.
The step that matters
Keeping the pan water and fat topped up while baking. Fish is lean and dries out quickly in dry heat. Hot water in the pan makes gentle steam, and fat on the surface slows moisture loss, so keeping both replenished helps the flesh stay moist while the skin browns.
“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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