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Stuffed Haddock

A haddock stuffed with breadcrumbs, herbs, and suet, baked and served with anchovy sauce.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 11 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 ↓

Stuffed Haddock

Oven, in the book's wordsA moderate oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a moderate oven”. The 350°F in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Prepare the stuffing

  1. Mix breadcrumbs, suet, parsley, thyme, and marjoram in a bowl. Season with salt and pepper, and bind with a little milk or the egg.

  2. Wash and trim the haddock.

Stuff and coat the fish

  1. Stuff the haddock with the mixture and sew it up. Truss the fish by threading the tail through the eyeholes or shaping it into an 'S'.

  2. Dip the stuffed fish in flour, then beaten egg, and finally in browned breadcrumbs.

Bake and serve

  1. Place on a greased baking sheet and dot with butter or dripping. Bake in a moderate oven (350°F / 175°C) for about 30 minutes, basting occasionally.

  2. Remove the string used to sew the fish. Serve on a hot dish with anchovy sauce poured around it.

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

    Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).

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

    Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).

  4. Parsley + peppertop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together34,122 recipes

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

  5. Pepper + marjoramtop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together2,609 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

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

What each ingredient does

Haddock
Forms the main body of the dish and cooks to flaky tenderness in the oven.
Breadcrumbs
Absorb moisture and bind the stuffing so it holds together when cooked.
Egg
Binds the stuffing and forms a coating that helps the browned crumbs adhere.
Suet
Adds fat to the stuffing, keeping it moist and rich as it cooks.
Browned breadcrumbs
Give the outer coating a golden colour and crisp, browned surface.
Dripping or butter
Adds fat for flavour and encourages browning on the outside of the fish.

The step that matters

Bake and baste the fish. Fish is delicate and dries out quickly, so basting during baking keeps the flesh moist while the coating browns.

Swap the marjoram

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (haddock, parsley, pepper, thyme, egg, butter, anchovy):

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

Fit is the average pairing score against haddock, parsley, pepper, thyme, egg, butter, 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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