Why it works: Fish and pork work together. They rank in the top 12% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 668 recipes. Both carry 4-heptenal, which smells creamy, biscuit. The science ↓
Baked Fish
Ingredients
Directions
The book says “a hot oven”. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.
Prepare
Stuff the fish with your chosen stuffing and sew it closed.
For long, narrow fish, use a trussing needle to shape it into an 'S' for even baking.
Place the fish on a greased baking sheet with handles or use cloth strips to lift it.
Grease the baking sheet with salt pork fat and place pork pieces under the fish.
Sprinkle the fish with salt and pepper, rub with soft butter, and make gashes in the back to insert narrow strips of pork.
Bake
Dredge the fish with flour and bake in a preheated oven at 400°F (200°C) until browned, basting often.
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.
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Fish + porktop 12% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together668 recipes
Shared aroma: 4-heptenal (creamy, biscuit).
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Fish + buttertop 12% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together4,488 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
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Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Pork + buttertop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together13,933 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-furfurylthiol (coffee, roasted).
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Pork + peppertop 16% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together22,121 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Butter and flour barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 124,287 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Fish
- Forms the main body of the dish, cooking through in the oven as the flesh firms and turns opaque.
- Stuffing
- Fills the cavity, adding moisture and flavour as it heats through inside the fish.
- Salt pork fat
- Greases the pan and adds savoury fat that helps the surface brown and prevents sticking.
- Pork pieces
- Release fat as they cook beneath the fish, moistening it and adding savoury flavour.
- Soft butter
- Adds fat to the skin, promoting browning and a rich, tender surface.
- Flour
- Dredged over the fish, it helps the surface brown and form a light crust.
The step that matters
Basting often during baking. Spooning the hot fat over the fish keeps the surface moist while the interior cooks, so the skin browns without drying out the flesh.
“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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