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Baked Shad

A stuffed and baked shad served with gravy and lemon.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 12 ingredients
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Why it works: Marjoram and lemon match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 957 recipes. Both carry beta-phellandrene, which smells minty, terpene. The science ↓

Baked Shad

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 stuffing

  1. Mix the head of the shad with cold boiled ham, seasoned with pepper, coarse sea salt, cloves, and sweet marjoram to make stuffing.

  2. Moisten the stuffing with beaten egg yolk.

Stuff and bake

  1. Stuff the shad with the mixture and rub the outside with egg yolk and some stuffing.

  2. Place the fish in a deep pan, tail to mouth.

  3. Add a little water and a piece of butter rolled in flour.

  4. Bake at 350°F (175°C) for two hours.

Serve

  1. Pour gravy around the fish and garnish with sliced lemon 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. Marjoram + lemontop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together957 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

  2. Clove + marjoramtop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,075 recipes

    Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).

  3. Pepper + lemontop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together27,047 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).

  4. Pepper + marjoramtop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together2,609 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  5. Pepper + clovetop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together17,451 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).

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

What each ingredient does

Shad
Forms the main body of the dish, cooked whole so the stuffing sits inside it.
Egg yolk
Binds the stuffing and gives the outside a glossy, golden finish when baked.
Butter
Adds richness and fat, helping the pan liquid form a flavorful gravy.
Flour
Thickens the butter and water mixture so it forms a gravy around the fish.
Cold boiled ham
Adds savory, salty flavor to the stuffing.

Swap the clove

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (ham, pepper, marjoram, egg, butter, flour, lemon):

  1. Parsleyfits better
  2. Thymefits better
  3. Tarragonfits better
  4. Clovethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against ham, pepper, marjoram, egg, butter, flour, lemon. 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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