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Stuffing for Fish

A savory mixture of pork fat, butter, herbs, oysters, eggs, and breadcrumbs used to fill fish before cooking.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 10 ingredients
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Stuffing for Fish

Why it works: Thyme and marjoram match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,225 recipes. Both carry terpineol, which smells pine, woody. The science ↓

Stuffing for Fish

Ingredients

Directions

Make the stuffing

  1. In a bowl, combine the chopped fat pork and butter.

  2. Add parsley, thyme, sweet marjoram, salt, pepper, and chopped oysters.

  3. Mix in the beaten eggs and enough bread crumbs to achieve a stuffing consistency.

Finish

  1. Use the stuffing to fill the fish before cooking.

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.

Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it

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. Thyme + marjoramtop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together2,225 recipes

    Shared aroma: terpineol (pine, woody).

  2. Parsley + thymetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together9,057 recipes

    Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).

  3. Parsley + marjoramtop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,979 recipes

    Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).

  4. Parsley + peppertop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together34,122 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

  5. Marjoram + peppertop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together2,609 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

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

What each ingredient does

Eggs
Bind the stuffing together so it holds its shape when filled into the fish.
Bread crumbs
Absorb moisture and add body, giving the stuffing a firm, spoonable consistency.
Fat pork
Adds fat and richness, keeping the stuffing moist as it cooks.
Oysters
Add briny, savoury flavour and a soft texture throughout the stuffing.

Swap the marjoram

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (pork, butter, parsley, thyme, pepper, oyster, egg):

  1. Marjoramthe original
  2. Sagefits about as well
  3. Tarragonfits less well
  4. Winter savoryfits less well

Fit is the average pairing score against pork, butter, parsley, thyme, pepper, oyster, 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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