Why it works: Pepper and parsley 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 Fish
Ingredients
Directions
The book says “a rather hot oven”. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.
Prepare the fish
Scrape the fish.
Wash the fish clean.
Rub 1 tablespoon of salt into the fish.
In a bowl, combine crushed crackers, parsley, half the pepper, ½ tablespoon salt, 1 tablespoon chopped pork, and ⅛ cup water.
Stuff the mixture into the fish.
Secure the fish with a skewer.
Make gashes across the fish, about ½ inch deep and 2 inches long.
Insert strips of the remaining pork into the gashes.
Dredge the fish well with flour.
Bake
Place a tin sheet in a baking pan.
Lay the fish on the tin sheet.
Cover the bottom of the pan with hot water.
Bake the fish in a 400°F (200°C) oven for 1 hour.
Baste the fish often with the pan gravy.
Dredge the fish with salt, pepper, and flour each time.
Renew the water in the pan as needed.
Lift the fish out onto a platter.
Make the gravy and serve
Place the baking pan on the stove for the gravy.
If there is less than ½ pint of gravy, add more water.
Mix 1 teaspoon of flour with cold water.
Stir the flour mixture into the boiling gravy.
Season the gravy.
Serve the gravy with the fish.
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 + parsleytop 2% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together34,122 recipes
Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
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Fish + porktop 12% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together668 recipes
Shared aroma: 4-heptenal (creamy, biscuit).
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Parsley + flourtop 12% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together16,675 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Pork + peppertop 16% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together22,121 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Fish + parsleytop 18% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together2,341 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
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 in the oven while staying moist inside.
- Crackers
- Crushed into the stuffing, they soak up moisture and bind the filling together.
- Pork
- Adds fat that bastes the fish and enriches the drippings used for the gravy.
- Flour
- Dusted on the fish, it helps form a browned crust and thickens the pan gravy.
The step that matters
Basting with the pan gravy. Basting repeatedly moistens the surface as the fish bakes, keeping it from drying out while the gravy builds flavour and colour in the pan.
Swap the parsley
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (fish, pork, pepper, flour):
- Marjoramfits about as well
- Thymefits about as well
- Turmericfits about as well
- Parsleythe original
Fit is the average pairing score against fish, pork, pepper, flour. 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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