Why it works: Thyme and marjoram match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,225 recipes. Both carry terpineol, which smells pine, woody. The science ↓
Stuffed Haddock
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the fish
Wash the haddock, cut off the fins, and dry the fish inside and out with a cloth.
Soak the bread in cold water for 10 minutes, then strain off the water and squeeze it dry.
Chop the suet and parsley, then mix them with the bread and add thyme, marjoram, pepper, and salt.
Stuff and bake
Place the haddock on its back, press the stuffing inside, and fasten it with a skewer. Turn the fish right side up, pass the tail through the eyes, and secure with a skewer.
Melt dripping in a tin, place the fish in it, and cover with flour.
Cook for 20 minutes per pound plus an additional 20 minutes.
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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Thyme + marjoramtop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together2,225 recipes
Shared aroma: terpineol (pine, woody).
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Parsley + thymetop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together9,057 recipes
Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).
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Parsley + marjoramtop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together1,979 recipes
Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).
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Parsley + peppertop 2% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together34,122 recipes
Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
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Marjoram + peppertop 3% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together2,609 recipes
Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Haddock
- Forms the main body of the dish, cooked through by gentle roasting.
- Bread
- Soaked and squeezed, it absorbs moisture and gives the stuffing a soft, binding body.
- Suet
- Adds fat that keeps the stuffing moist and rich as it cooks.
The step that matters
Cook for 20 minutes per pound plus an additional 20 minutes.. Fish cooks quickly and dries out when overcooked, while the stuffing needs enough heat to set. Following the time for the fish's full weight helps keep the flesh moist and flaky.
Swap the parsley
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (haddock, bread, thyme, marjoram, pepper):
- Parsleythe original
- Winter savoryfits about as well
- Sagefits about as well
- Basilfits less well
Fit is the average pairing score against haddock, bread, thyme, marjoram, 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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