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 ↓
Baked Stuffed Haddock
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
Wash and clean the haddock in cold water, then dry it with a cloth.
Grate the bread crumbs onto a piece of paper.
Wash the parsley in cold water and dry it with a cloth.
Chop the parsley finely; you need about 2 teaspoons.
Chop the thyme and marjoram finely, discarding the stalks; you need about 1 teaspoon.
Make the stuffing
Mix the herbs with ½ cup of the bread crumbs.
Add pepper and salt to taste, then mix in the suet.
Stuff and coat the fish
Stuff the belly of the fish with the stuffing and sew it up.
Beat the egg in a plate and brush it over the fish, then roll the fish in the remaining bread crumbs.
Bake
Grease a baking dish with dripping.
Place the fish in the dish and bake in a 350°F (175°C) oven for 30 to 45 minutes, basting frequently with dripping.
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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Thyme + marjoramtop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together2,225 recipes
Shared aroma: terpineol (pine, woody).
-
Parsley + thymetop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together9,057 recipes
Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).
-
Parsley + marjoramtop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together1,979 recipes
Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).
-
Parsley + peppertop 2% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together34,122 recipes
Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
-
Marjoram + peppertop 3% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked 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
- Haddock
- Forms the main body of the dish, cooking up flaky and moist under the stuffing.
- Bread crumbs
- Form the stuffing and a crisp outer coating that helps the fish brown.
- Suet
- Adds fat that keeps the stuffing moist and rich as it cooks.
- Egg
- Acts as a binder, helping the crumbs adhere to the fish.
- Dripping
- Adds fat for basting, promoting browning and a richer surface.
The step that matters
Basting the fish frequently with dripping. Fish is lean and dries out quickly in the oven. Regular basting with fat keeps the surface moist and helps the crumb coating brown evenly.
“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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