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To Bake Fish

A whole fish is stuffed, topped with pork strips, seasoned, and baked until browned.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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Why it works: Fish and bread are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 10% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,668 recipes. Both carry 2-undecenal, which smells sweet. The science ↓

To Bake Fish

Oven, in the book's wordsA hot oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a hot oven”. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Prepare the fish

  1. Do not cut off the head and tail of the fish.

  2. Stuff the fish and sew it closed or tie it with string.

  3. Lay the pork strips across the top of the fish.

  4. Sprinkle with water, pepper, coarse sea salt, and bread crumbs.

Bake and serve

  1. Add some hot water to the baking pan.

  2. Bake in a hot oven at 400°F (200°C), basting often.

  3. Ensure the top is nicely browned 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 their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.

  1. Fish + breadtop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,668 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-undecenal (sweet).

  2. Fish + porktop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together668 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4-heptenal (creamy, biscuit).

  3. Pork + breadtop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,371 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-acetyl-1-pyrroline (popcorn, roasted).

  4. Pork + peppertop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together22,121 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  5. Pepper + breadtop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together20,964 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

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 to flaky, moist flesh when baked whole.
Pork
Renders fat over the fish as it bakes, adding flavour and helping the top brown.
Bread crumbs
Form a crust on top of the fish that helps it brown when baked.
Stuffing
Fills the cavity, adding flavour and moisture to the inside of the fish as it cooks.

The step that matters

Basting the fish in a hot oven. Basting often keeps the surface moist while the fat and juices run over the fish, helping the top brown evenly without drying. Hot water in the pan adds steam that supports gentle, even cooking of the fish.

“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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