Skip to main content
Main

Mock Fish Stuffed and Baked

A baked mock fish made from corn grits, stuffed with a nut and egg mixture, decorated with nuts and almonds.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 22 ingredients
Jump to recipe ↓

Why it works: Sage and celery match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 3% of all ingredient pairs, and 718 recipes mention both. Both carry beta-phellandrene, which smells minty, terpene. The science ↓

The recipe

Ingredients

Contains: egg, peanut, tree nuts, fish (auto-detected from the ingredients and method; we can miss things, so check labels)

Also mentioned in the method: fish

Directions

The book gives no oven temperature. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.

Make the grits

  1. In a large pot, bring 6 cups of water to a boil.

  2. Add 1 teaspoon of salt and stir in ½ cup of corn grits, stirring until it boils.

  3. Let it boil gently for a few minutes, then place in a steam cooker and steam for 3 to 4 hours.

Make the stuffing

  1. For the stuffing, mix 2 tablespoons zwieola, 1 tablespoon gluten No. 3, 2 tablespoons pecan meal, 1 tablespoon peanut butter, 1 tablespoon almond butter, 1 hard‑boiled egg, ½ teaspoon sage, 1 teaspoon grated onion, and ¼ teaspoon salt. Add a little water to make a stiff batter and mix thoroughly.

Shape and bake

  1. Once the corn grits are done, oil a baking tin and spread some cooked grits in the shape of a fish.

  2. Add the stuffing along the length of the fish, creating a trough for the chopped egg yolks seasoned with celery salt.

  3. Cover the egg with the dressing and then with more cooked grits, shaping it into a fish.

  4. Spread with diluted nut butter and use egg‑white slices for gills and mouth, and filberts for eyes.

  5. Press blanched Jordan almonds down the center for dorsal fins and use them to form the tail.

  6. Lard the back with pine nuts.

  7. Bake in a moderate oven at 350°F (175°C) for 30 minutes, covering with brown paper if it browns too quickly.

  8. Garnish with parsley and curled celery before serving.

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.

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.

  1. Sage + celerytop 3% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together718 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

  2. Peanut + almondtop 4% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together305 recipes

    Shared aroma: acetylpyrazine (roast).

  3. Butter + filberttop 4% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together52 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-decenal (waxy, orange).

  4. Almond + filberttop 4% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together80 recipes

    Shared aroma: acetylpyrazine (roast).

  5. Onion + celerytop 5% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapmoderate
    Mentioned together18,506 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

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

What each ingredient does

Corn grits
Cooked into a firm base that forms the body of the fish.
Pecan meal
Adds body and nutty flavour to the stuffing mixture.
Peanut butter
Adds fat and richness, helping the stuffing hold together and taste savoury.
Almond butter
Adds fat and nutty flavour, keeping the stuffing moist and tender.
Hard-boiled egg
Adds protein and body, helping the stuffing set firmly.
Egg yolks
Form a rich, creamy filling that contrasts with the stuffing.

The step that matters

Baking with the cover. Brown paper must go over the fish if it darkens too fast, because direct oven heat over 30 minutes can scorch the surface before the grits and stuffing set through.

Flavor stand-ins for the sage

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (corn grits, peanut, butter, almond, egg, onion, celery):

  1. Garlicbetter flavor fit
  2. Parsleybetter flavor fit
  3. Cinnamonbetter flavor fit
  4. Sagethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against corn grits, peanut, butter, almond, egg, onion, celery. 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.

You might also like

Illustration of Corn FrittersIllustrationCorn Fritters203 recipesIllustration of Cream of Celery SoupIllustrationCream of Celery Soup113 recipesIllustration of Almond SoupIllustrationAlmond Soup60 recipesIllustration of Cream of Corn SoupIllustrationCream of Corn Soup50 recipes