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Italian Baked Fish

A baked fish dish flavored with olive oil, garlic, parsley, greens, and tomatoes.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 ingredients
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Why it works: Olive and tomato are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 15,539 recipes. Both carry 3-hexenal, which smells apple, fruity. The science ↓

Italian Baked Fish

Oven, in the book's wordsA hot oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a hot oven”. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Prepare the fish

  1. Sear the fish in plenty of olive oil, then season with salt and pepper.

  2. Remove the fish from the pan and remove the bones.

Make the sauce

  1. In the same oil, slice and sauté the garlic until it begins to brown.

  2. Add the chopped parsley and the coarsely chopped lettuce or Swiss chard.

  3. Stir in the can of tomatoes or tomato sauce, and season with salt and pepper.

Bake and serve

  1. Return the fish to the mixture, placing some sauce over the top.

  2. Bake in a hot oven at 400°F (200°C) until tender, about 1 to 2 hours.

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. Olive + tomatotop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together15,539 recipes

    Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).

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

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

  3. Olive + garlictop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together25,665 recipes

    Shared aroma: linalool (floral, citrus).

  4. Garlic + tomatotop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together14,076 recipes

    Shared aroma: furaneol (caramel, strawberry).

  5. Garlic + parsleytop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together9,308 recipes

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

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

What each ingredient does

Fish
Forms the main body of the dish and becomes tender as it bakes in the sauce.
Olive oil
Carries flavor and helps the fish sear and brown before it is baked.
Garlic
Adds aroma and savory depth as it browns in the oil.
Lettuce or swiss chard
Softens as it cooks, adding leafy body and moisture to the sauce.
Tomatoes or tomato sauce
Provides moisture and acidity that forms the sauce around the fish.

The step that matters

Removing the bones after searing. Bones are easy to miss once the fish is cooked and coated in sauce, and they are hard to find later. Removing them before the fish returns to the sauce keeps each bite safe to eat.

Swap the clove

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (salmon, olive, pepper, garlic, parsley, lettuce, tomato):

  1. Capersfits better
  2. Thymefits better
  3. Basilfits better
  4. Clovethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against salmon, olive, pepper, garlic, parsley, lettuce, tomato. 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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