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Dressed Fish

A baked pie of sliced bream, hard-boiled egg quarters, and herb and butter balls under a puff pastry crust.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 15 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 ↓

Dressed Fish

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 filling

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

  2. In a bowl, mix the butter, bread crumbs, shallots, thyme, marjoram, parsley, anchovy sauce, Worcestershire sauce, cayenne pepper, and salt to form small balls.

  3. Layer the bream slices in a pie dish.

  4. Add a layer of egg quarters, the seasoning balls, and optional lobster pieces.

Assemble and bake

  1. Mix Worcestershire sauce and anchovy sauce with the stock.

  2. Pour the mixture into the pie.

  3. Cover with rough puff pastry.

  4. Bake for 1.5 hours.

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. Thyme + parsleytop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together9,057 recipes

    Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).

  3. Marjoram + parsleytop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,979 recipes

    Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).

  4. Shallot + parsleytop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together3,737 recipes

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

  5. Shallot + thymetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,476 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

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

What each ingredient does

Bream
Forms the main body of the pie and cooks through to flaky, tender pieces.
Eggs
Set when baked, adding richness and structure to the filling.
Butter
Adds fat and richness, helping the bread crumb balls hold together and brown.
Bread crumbs
Absorb butter and juices, binding the seasoning balls and giving body to the filling.
Shallots
Add a mild, sweet onion flavour that softens during baking.

The step that matters

Pour the stock mixture into the pie. Liquid poured in before the pastry goes on keeps the filling moist as it bakes; adding it too late or in too small an amount can leave the fish dry, while the pastry must seal well so steam and juices stay inside.

Swap the marjoram

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (shallot, butter, bread, thyme, parsley, anchovy, sauce):

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

Fit is the average pairing score against shallot, butter, bread, thyme, parsley, anchovy, sauce. 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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