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Stuffing for Pike, Haddock, and Small Cod

A savory fish stuffing made with bacon, suet, butter, herbs, anchovies, breadcrumbs, and egg.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 14 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 ↓

Stuffing for Pike, Haddock, and Small Cod

Ingredients

Directions

Make the stuffing

  1. In a bowl, combine fat bacon, beef suet, and fresh butter.

  2. Add parsley, thyme, savoury, onion, marjoram, anchovies, salt, nutmeg, and pepper.

  3. Mix in breadcrumbs and the egg to bind the mixture.

Stuff the fish

  1. Stuff the mixture into the fish of your choice before cooking.

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. Marjoram + nutmegtop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together687 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

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

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

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

What each ingredient does

Fat bacon
Adds richness and fat that keeps the stuffing moist and flavourful during cooking.
Beef suet
Adds fat that gives the stuffing a moist, rich texture.
Breadcrumbs
Absorb fat and add body, giving the stuffing a soft, cohesive texture.
Egg
Binds the mixture so it holds together when stuffed into the fish.
Anchovies
Contribute a salty, savoury depth that rounds out the herbs.

The step that matters

Binding the mixture. The egg and breadcrumbs must be mixed in evenly so the stuffing holds together. Too much moisture or unevenly mixed binder can make it loose or crumbly once it is stuffed and cooked.

Swap the onion

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (beef, butter, parsley, thyme, marjoram, nutmeg, pepper):

  1. Carrotfits better
  2. Shallotfits better
  3. Parsnipfits better
  4. Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against beef, butter, parsley, thyme, marjoram, nutmeg, pepper. 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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