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To Boil Pike

A pike stuffed with oysters, breadcrumbs, and herbs, then boiled.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 14 ingredients
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Why it works: Parsley and marjoram match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,979 recipes. Both carry cuminaldehyde, which smells Spicy, cumin. The science ↓

To Boil Pike

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Prepare the pike by washing it and removing the gills.

  2. In a bowl, mix the oysters, bread crumbs, suet or butter, anchovies, onion, pepper, salt, nutmeg, parsley, marjoram, thyme, savory, and egg to create the forcemeat.

Stuff and boil

  1. Stuff the forcemeat into the pike and sew it up.

  2. In a large pot, bring salted water and ⅓ cup vinegar to a boil.

  3. Add the stuffed pike and boil for 30 minutes.

Serve

  1. Serve with oyster sauce or melted butter, or broil if desired.

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

    Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).

  2. Nutmeg + marjoramtop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together687 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  3. Pepper + parsleytop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together34,122 recipes

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

  4. Nutmeg + parsleytop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together5,062 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

Egg
Binds the forcemeat so it holds together inside the fish.
Bread crumbs
Absorb moisture and give the forcemeat body and a soft texture.
Suet or butter
Adds fat that keeps the forcemeat moist and rich during cooking.
Oysters
Contribute savory, briny flavour to the stuffing.
Pike
The main fish, whose firm flesh holds its shape while boiling.

The step that matters

Sewing up the pike after stuffing. If the stitching is loose or the fish is overfilled, the forcemeat can swell and escape during boiling, leaving the stuffing spilled and the fish dry. Filling gently and closing the opening firmly keeps the stuffing contained while the fish cooks through.

Swap the onion

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

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

Fit is the average pairing score against oyster, bread, beef, pepper, nutmeg, parsley, marjoram. 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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