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Stuffed Haddock

A haddock stuffed with breadcrumb mixture, baked and served with anchovy sauce.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 11 ingredients
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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

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

  1. Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).

  2. In a bowl, mix breadcrumbs, suet, parsley, thyme, and marjoram; season with salt and pepper.

  3. Bind the mixture with a little milk or the egg.

  4. Clean and trim the haddock, then stuff it with the breadcrumb mixture and sew it up.

  5. Truss the fish by threading the tail through the eyeholes or shaping it into an 'S'.

Coat and bake

  1. Dust the stuffed fish with flour, dip it in beaten egg, and coat with browned breadcrumbs.

  2. Place the fish on a greased baking sheet and dot with small pieces of butter or dripping.

  3. Bake for about 30 minutes, basting occasionally.

Serve

  1. Remove the string used to sew the fish and serve on a hot dish.

  2. Pour anchovy sauce around the fish and serve additional sauce in a tureen.

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. Thyme + marjoramtop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together2,225 recipes

    Shared aroma: terpineol (pine, woody).

  2. Parsley + thymetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together9,057 recipes

    Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).

  3. Parsley + marjoramtop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,979 recipes

    Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).

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

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

  5. Pepper + marjoramtop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked 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 whole around the stuffing.
Breadcrumbs
Absorb moisture and bind the stuffing so it holds its shape while cooking.
Suet
Adds fat that keeps the stuffing moist and rich as it cooks.
Egg
Binds the stuffing and, as a coating, helps browned crumbs adhere to the fish.
Browned breadcrumbs
Form a crisp, golden coating on the outside of the fish as it bakes.

The step that matters

Sewing and trussing the stuffed fish. If the stuffing is packed too loosely or the fish is not sewn and trussed securely, the filling can escape and the shape can collapse in the oven. Binding the stuffing well and closing the opening firmly keeps the filling inside and the fish intact during baking.

Swap the marjoram

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (haddock, parsley, pepper, thyme, egg, butter, anchovy):

  1. Marjoramthe original
  2. Capersfits about as well
  3. Tarragonfits about as well
  4. Nutmegfits less well

Fit is the average pairing score against haddock, parsley, pepper, thyme, egg, butter, anchovy. 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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