Why it works: Pepper and butter are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 21% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 85,593 recipes. Both carry trans-2-nonenal, which smells cardboard, fatty. The science ↓
Baked Shad
Ingredients
Directions
The book says “a very moderate oven”. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.
Prepare
Open the shad by cutting it down the back.
Wash it well and wipe it dry.
Score the shad and season it with cayenne pepper and coarse sea salt.
Bake
Place a few pieces of butter in the bottom of a pan and the remainder on top of the shad.
Add 2 tablespoons of water.
Bake in a moderate oven at 350°F (175°C) for 3 to 4 hours.
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 + buttertop 21% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together85,593 recipes
Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Shad
- Forms the main body of the dish, cooking through slowly in the oven.
- Butter
- Adds fat and moisture, enriching the flesh as it melts over the fish during baking.
- Water
- Creates a little steam in the pan, helping keep the fish moist during the long bake.
The step that matters
Baking at a moderate oven for a long time. Shad is full of fine bones and delicate flesh. Slow, moderate heat lets the bones soften and the flesh cook evenly without drying out. Too high a heat would dry or scorch the outside before the inside is done.
“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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