Why it works: Pepper and lemon match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 3% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 27,047 recipes. Both carry trans-2-nonenal, which smells cardboard, fatty. The science ↓
To Bake Pike
Ingredients
Directions
The book says “a steady oven”. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.
Prepare
Stuff the cleaned pike with oyster forcemeat and skewer the tail to the mouth.
Sprinkle the fish with coarse sea salt and dredge with flour.
Dot the fish with small pieces of butter.
Bake and finish
Bake in a steady oven at 350°F (175°C) for 40 to 50 minutes, depending on the size of the fish.
For the sauce, add melted butter, essence of anchovies, grated lemon peel or lemon pickle, sherry, Harvey's sauce, and cayenne to the gravy in the dish after baking.
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 + lemontop 3% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together27,047 recipes
Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).
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Flour + buttertop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Oyster + buttertop 12% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together8,184 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,6-nonadienal (cucumber, green).
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Butter + sherrytop 14% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together3,505 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).
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Oyster + saucetop 14% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together2,233 recipes
Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
Flour and butter 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
- Pike
- The main fish, which forms the body of the dish and is cooked whole.
- Oyster forcemeat
- Fills the cavity, adding moisture and rich savoury flavour as the fish cooks.
- Flour
- Dredged on the fish to help form a light crust that browns in the oven.
- Butter
- Dotted over the fish, it melts into the flesh and gravy, adding richness and moisture.
- Sherry
- Adds acidity and a warm, fruity depth to the sauce.
The step that matters
Baking time and size. Baking time depends on the fish's size, and fish cooks quickly past doneness. Checking early keeps the flesh moist and flaky instead of dry and tough.
Swap the lemon
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (oyster, flour, butter, sherry, sauce, pepper):
- Lemonthe original
- Figfits about as well
- Plumfits about as well
- Grapefits about as well
Fit is the average pairing score against oyster, flour, butter, sherry, sauce, pepper. 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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