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Stuffed Marrow

Stuffed marrow is a baked squash filled with bread crumbs, herbs, butter, and optional egg.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 ingredients
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Why it works: Pepper and parsley match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 34,122 recipes. Both carry 4'-methylacetophenone, which smells bitter almond. The science ↓

Stuffed Marrow

Ingredients

Directions

The book gives no oven temperature. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.

Prepare the filling

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

  2. Cut the marrows in half lengthwise or cut a wedge-shaped piece from one end and remove all seeds.

  3. In a bowl, mix the bread crumbs, pepper, salt, parsley, and butter.

  4. If the bread is very dry, moisten it with a little hot water and rub in butter.

  5. Add the egg if using, and mix to bind the forcemeat together.

  6. Fill the marrows with the forcemeat and tie them up in a cloth.

Cook and bake

  1. Boil or steam for 30 minutes.

  2. Place in a shallow dish, add a piece of butter on top, and sprinkle with more bread crumbs.

  3. Bake for 30 to 45 minutes, depending on size.

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. Pepper + parsleytop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together34,122 recipes

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

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

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

  3. Bread + eggtop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together22,662 recipes

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

  4. Parsley + buttertop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together28,563 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-hexenal (green, leafy).

  5. Bread + parsleytop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together8,588 recipes

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

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

What each ingredient does

Marrows
Form the edible shell that holds the filling and softens as it cooks.
Dry bread crumbs
Provide the bulk of the forcemeat and absorb the butter and moisture.
Butter
Adds richness and moisture to the filling and browns the topping.
Egg
Binds the forcemeat together so it holds its shape when cooked.

The step that matters

Moistening the dry bread. Very dry crumbs stay crumbly and absorb fat unevenly, so a little hot water and rubbed-in butter helps the filling hold together and stay moist during baking.

Swap the parsley

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (bread, pepper, butter, egg):

  1. Parsleythe original
  2. Nutmegfits about as well
  3. Sagefits less well
  4. Tarragonfits less well

Fit is the average pairing score against bread, pepper, butter, egg. 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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