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Pike, Baked

A whole pike stuffed with seasoned force‑meat, baked in butter and wine, finished with a thickened gravy of anchovy sauce, mushroom ketchup, cayenne, and salt.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 12 ingredients
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Why it works: Sauce and ketchup match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,099 recipes. Both carry ethanol, which smells alcoholic, ethereal. The science ↓

Pike, Baked

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 fish

  1. Pour boiling water over the pike, plunge it into cold water, and scrape off the scales.

  2. Wipe the fish dry, empty it, fill the cavity with seasoned force-meat, and sew up the sides.

Bake and serve

  1. Place the fish in a baking dish, add lumps of butter, and pour white wine or broth over it.

  2. Bake in a preheated oven at 350°F (175°C) for 30 minutes or longer, basting frequently.

  3. Transfer the fish to a hot dish.

  4. Thicken the gravy with flour, then add anchovy sauce, mushroom ketchup, cayenne pepper, and salt; let it boil.

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. Sauce + ketchuptop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,099 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  2. Anchovy + saucetop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,057 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  3. Anchovy + ketchuptop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together479 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  4. White wine + mushroomtop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,765 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity).

  5. Butter + mushroomtop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together12,525 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-decenal (waxy, orange).

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 becomes the body of the dish once baked whole and stuffed.
White wine or clear broth
Adds moisture and liquid to the baking dish, keeping the fish from drying out while it cooks.
Flour
Thickens the cooking liquid into a gravy that clings to the fish.
Butter
Adds fat and richness, and helps the fish brown while it bakes and is basted.
Mushroom ketchup
Adds savory depth to the gravy through its concentrated umami flavor.

The step that matters

Basting frequently during baking. Fish is lean and dries out quickly in the oven. Regular basting with the butter and liquid in the dish keeps the flesh moist while it cooks through.

“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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