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To Dry Haddocks

A method of drying haddocks by salting, air‑drying, and baking with egg and breadcrumbs.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 5 ingredients
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Why it works: Bread and butter are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 27,232 recipes. Both carry delta-decalactone, which smells sweet, creamy. The science ↓

To Dry Haddocks

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the fish

  1. Remove the gills, eyes, and entrails from the haddocks.

  2. Wipe them dry and place salt inside the bodies and eyes.

  3. Lay the haddocks on a board overnight.

  4. Hang them in a dry place for 3-4 days until ready to eat.

Coat and cook

  1. Skin the haddocks and rub them with egg, then coat with bread crumbs.

  2. Place them before the fire and baste with butter until browned.

  3. Serve with egg sauce.

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

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

  2. Egg + breadtop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together22,662 recipes

    Shared aroma: (e)-2-octenal (fatty, green).

  3. Haddock + buttertop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together764 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  4. Egg + buttertop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together118,967 recipes

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

  5. Haddock + breadtop 24% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together220 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

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

What each ingredient does

Haddocks
The main fish, which is salted and dried so its flesh firms and keeps longer.
Egg
Acts as a binder so the bread crumbs adhere to the skin of the fish.
Bread crumbs
Form a crisp, golden crust when the coated fish is heated.
Butter
Adds fat that promotes browning and a rich flavor during basting.

The step that matters

Hanging the haddocks to dry. Drying for several days depends on a dry, airy spot; too much moisture can lead to spoilage rather than preservation. Salt draws water out of the flesh, which helps preserve it.

“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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