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Baked Bluefish, or Shad

A baked whole bluefish or shad with salt pork, flour, and seasonings, cooked in a pan with hot water.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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Why it works: Pork and pepper are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 16% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 22,121 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓

Baked Bluefish, or Shad

Oven, in the book's wordsA hot oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a hot oven”. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Prepare the fish

  1. Cut gashes across the fish and insert strips of salt pork.

  2. Dredge the fish with flour and season with salt and pepper.

Bake and serve

  1. Place the fish in a baking pan and cover the bottom with hot water.

  2. Bake at 350°F (175°C) for one hour, basting often.

  3. Add more water if the pan gets dry before serving.

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. Pork + peppertop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together22,121 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  2. Flour + peppertop 19% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together50,459 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  3. Bluefish + flourtop 23% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together26 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  4. Bluefish + porktop 26% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together22 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  5. Pork + flourtop 27% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together11,187 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

Pork and flour barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 11,187 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

Salt pork
Renders fat into the fish, adding moisture and savory richness as it bakes.
Flour
Coats the surface so it helps browning and gives a slightly crisp exterior.
Bluefish
Provides the main protein, which firms and turns opaque as it cooks.

The step that matters

Basting and keeping water in the pan. Basting spreads moisture over the surface while the hot water in the pan keeps the fish from drying out. If the pan runs dry, the flesh can toughen and scorch.

“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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