Why it works: Veal and egg are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 28% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 6,845 recipes. Both carry 2-nonenal, which smells fatty, green. The science ↓
Pike, Baked
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 fish
Wash, clean, and scale the fish, removing the fins and gills.
Fill the inside with forcemeat and sew up the opening.
Brush the fish with beaten egg and cover with breadcrumbs.
Truss the fish in a round shape, fastening the tail in the mouth with a skewer.
Baste the fish well with hot fat before placing it in the oven.
Bake and serve
Cover with greased paper and bake gently at 350°F (175°C) for 40 to 45 minutes.
Serve with a suitable sauce.
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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Veal + eggtop 28% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together6,845 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Pike
- Forms the main body of the dish and becomes flaky and tender when baked gently.
- Veal forcemeat
- Adds moisture and richness to the fish as it cooks inside the body.
- Egg
- Binds the breadcrumb coating so it adheres to the fish and browns.
- Brown breadcrumbs
- Form a crisp, golden coating that browns in the oven.
- Dripping
- Adds fat that bastes the surface, aiding browning and moisture.
The step that matters
Covering with greased paper while baking gently. Gentle heat and a cover keep the delicate fish from drying out or over-browning before it is cooked through. Greasing the paper prevents it sticking to the crumb coating.
“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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