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Baked Shad 1

Baked shad is a fish fillet baked with butter, flour, salt, pepper, and served with asparagus sauce.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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Why it works: Pepper and asparagus are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 10% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,968 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓

Baked Shad 1

Oven, in the book's wordsA moderate oven

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

  1. Wipe the shad dry and remove the bones with a small knife.

Broil

  1. Place the shad on a buttered grill and broil for 5 minutes with the inside facing the coals.

Bake and serve

  1. Carefully transfer the shad to a buttered baking dish, dredge with flour, and season with salt and pepper.

  2. Pour melted butter over the shad and bake in a 350°F (175°C) oven for 20 minutes.

  3. Add small pieces of butter on top and serve hot with asparagus sauce.

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. Pepper + asparagustop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,968 recipes

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

  2. Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together124,287 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  3. Flour + asparagustop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together936 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  4. Butter + saucetop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together15,338 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  5. Butter + asparagustop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,026 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).

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

Shad
Provides the main flesh, which firms and flakes as it cooks.
Butter
Adds moisture and richness, helping the fish stay tender in the oven.
Flour
Dredging creates a light coating that helps the surface brown and hold moisture.

The step that matters

Broiling the shad on the grill. Fish is delicate and can dry out or stick if the heat is too intense or the grill is not well buttered. Placing the inside facing the coals and watching the 5 minutes closely helps keep the flesh moist while the surface sets.

Swap the asparagus

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (butter, flour, pepper, sauce):

  1. Shallotfits better
  2. Capsicumfits better
  3. Chivefits about as well
  4. Asparagusthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against butter, flour, pepper, sauce. 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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