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Baked Haddock

A haddock fillet stuffed with a breadcrumb and herb mixture, then baked.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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Why it works: Parsley and pepper match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 34,122 recipes. Both carry 4'-methylacetophenone, which smells bitter almond. The science ↓

Baked Haddock

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 the stuffing

  1. Mix bread crumbs and dripping together.

  2. Add parsley, onion, salt, and pepper; combine well.

  3. Bind the mixture with milk.

Stuff and bake

  1. Stuff the haddock with the mixture and sew it up neatly.

  2. Place the stuffed haddock in a baking pan.

  3. Brush the top with melted drippings or butter.

  4. Sprinkle with 1 ounce of bread crumbs.

  5. Bake at 350°F (175°C), basting occasionally.

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. Parsley + peppertop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together34,122 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

  2. Bread + buttertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together27,232 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).

  3. Butter + milktop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together81,283 recipes

    Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).

  4. Parsley + oniontop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together25,843 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).

  5. Bread + milktop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together11,466 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-undecenal (sweet).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Bread crumbs
Absorb the fat and form the bulk of the stuffing, giving it body.
Dripping
Adds fat that coats the crumbs and keeps the stuffing moist and rich.
Milk
Moistens the crumbs so the stuffing holds together when bound.
Onion
Adds savory flavor to the stuffing as it cooks inside the fish.

The step that matters

Basting the haddock while it bakes. Fish is lean and dries out quickly in the oven. Basting with melted fat adds moisture and helps the top brown evenly while the flesh cooks through gently.

Swap the onion

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (bread, butter, parsley, pepper, milk):

  1. Potatofits better
  2. Capsicumfits better
  3. Carrotfits better
  4. Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against bread, butter, parsley, pepper, milk. 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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