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Baked Carp

A whole carp stuffed with seasoned forcemeat, coated in egg and breadcrumbs, baked with onions, herbs, wine, stock, and anchovy sauce.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 12 ingredients
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Why it works: Vinegar and red wine work together. They rank in the top 10% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 575 recipes. Both carry sotolon, which smells curry, maple. The science ↓

Baked Carp

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. Clean the Carp and soak it in a bowl of salted water and vinegar to disgorge.

  2. Remove the Carp, drain, and dry it.

  3. Stuff the Carp with well-seasoned forcemeat and sew up the belly.

  4. Brush the fish with egg, dredge breadcrumbs over it, and place small lumps of butter on top.

Bake and serve

  1. In a deep earthenware dish, layer sliced onions and sweet herbs.

  2. Place the Carp on top, pour over the red wine and stock mixed with anchovy sauce.

  3. Bake in a moderate oven at 350°F (175°C) for one hour.

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. Vinegar + red winetop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together575 recipes

    Shared aroma: sotolon (curry, maple).

  2. Egg + anchovytop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,330 recipes

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

  3. Butter + anchovytop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together3,697 recipes

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

  4. Vinegar + oniontop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together18,226 recipes

    Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).

  5. Onion + anchovytop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together1,263 recipes

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

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

What each ingredient does

Carp
Forms the main body of the dish, becoming flaky and tender when baked.
Egg
Brushed on the fish to help the breadcrumbs adhere and form a golden crust.
Breadcrumbs
Form a crisp, browned crust over the fish as it bakes.
Butter
Adds fat and richness, helping the crust brown and keeping the fish moist.
Red wine
Adds acidity and depth of flavour to the braising liquid around the fish.
Onions
Sweeten and flavour the cooking liquid as they soften beneath the fish.

The step that matters

Drying the carp after soaking. Excess surface water dilutes the breadcrumb coating and stops it from adhering and browning well in the oven, so the fish must be dried thoroughly before stuffing and coating.

Swap the onion

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (vinegar, egg, butter, red wine, anchovy):

  1. Shallotfits better
  2. Capsicumfits about as well
  3. Chivefits about as well
  4. Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against vinegar, egg, butter, red wine, 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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