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Red Mullet Aux Fines Herbes

A baked red mullet stuffed with a forcemeat of liver, roes, herbs, spices, and cream, finished with butter and Madeira.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 23 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 ↓

Red Mullet Aux Fines Herbes

Oven, in the book's wordsA quick oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a quick oven”. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Prepare the fish

  1. Remove the scales from the red mullet carefully.

  2. Wash and dry the fish, then lightly dust them with flour.

  3. Prepare a forcemeat with the fish livers and roes, powdered rusk, herbs, peels, spices, eggs, and enough cream to make a paste.

  4. Fill the mullet with the forcemeat.

Bake and serve

  1. Melt butter in a pie dish and add spices, mustard, orange juice, lemon juice, capsicums, and Madeira.

  2. Place the filled mullet in the dish and bake at 400°F (200°C) for 45 minutes until thoroughly cooked.

  3. Serve hot.

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. Basil + marjoramtop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together688 recipes

    Shared aroma: terpineol (pine, woody).

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

    Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).

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

    Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).

  5. Thyme + basiltop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,768 recipes

    Shared aroma: terpineol (pine, woody).

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

What each ingredient does

Red mullet
Is the main fish that is filled, dusted, and baked whole.
Eggs
Bind the forcemeat so it holds together as a paste.
Cream
Moistens the forcemeat so it becomes a spreadable paste.
Fish livers and roes
Add richness and savoury depth to the forcemeat filling.
2 ounces fresh butter
Adds fat and richness to the pan sauce.
Madeira wine
Adds sweetness and depth to the liquid the fish bakes in.

Swap the basil

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (flour, liver, roe, fish, parsley, thyme, marjoram):

  1. Sagefits better
  2. Winter savoryfits better
  3. Capersfits better
  4. Basilthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against flour, liver, roe, fish, parsley, thyme, marjoram. 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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