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Baked Cod

A codfish baked with a breadcrumb and herb stuffing, topped with butter and Worcestershire sauce.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 10 ingredients
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Baked Cod

Why it works: Marjoram and thyme 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 ↓

Baked Cod

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

  1. Soak the fish in cold, salted water for 30 minutes, then dry it.

  2. Prepare the stuffing by mixing bread crumbs, salt pork, herbs, onion, and seasoning, binding with the beaten egg.

  3. Stuff the fish with the mixture and place it in a baking dish.

Bake and serve

  1. Pour the melted butter over the fish, seasoned with Worcestershire sauce.

  2. Bake in a 350°F (175°C) oven for 1 hour, basting frequently to prevent over-browning.

  3. If the sauce thickens too much, add a little butter and water.

  4. Once done, transfer the fish to a hot dish, strain the gravy over it, and serve.

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.

Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it

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. Marjoram + thymetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together2,225 recipes

    Shared aroma: terpineol (pine, woody).

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

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  3. Pepper + thymetop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together11,585 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

  4. Thyme + oniontop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together11,171 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

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

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

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

What each ingredient does

Bread crumbs
Absorb the egg and butter to bind the stuffing and keep it moist.
Beaten egg
Binds the stuffing so it holds together inside the fish.
Melted butter
Adds richness and moisture, and helps the surface brown as it bakes.
Salt pork
Adds fat and savory flavor to the stuffing as it renders.
Worcestershire sauce
Adds savory, tangy depth to the butter sauce poured over the fish.

The step that matters

Basting and checking the sauce during baking. Frequent basting keeps the surface moist and prevents over-browning during the hour in the oven. If the sauce reduces too much, the fish can dry out, so adding a little butter and water keeps the gravy fluid.

Swap the onion

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (bread, pepper, pork, marjoram, thyme, sauce, butter):

  1. Capsicumfits better
  2. Shallotfits better
  3. Potatofits better
  4. Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against bread, pepper, pork, marjoram, thyme, sauce, butter. 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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