Name: Baked Mackerel or Herrings
Ingredients: 2 medium-sized mackerel or 6 herrings; 2 tablespoons chopped parsley; 1 teaspoon herbs, or to taste; 6 tablespoons bread crumbs; 2 tablespoons dripping (or oil); 3 oz. flour; salt, to taste; pepper, to taste; bread crumbs for topping

Why it works: Parsley and pepper match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 34,122 recipes. Both carry 4'-methylacetophenone, which smells bitter almond. The science ↓

Baked Mackerel or Herrings

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

Remove the heads, fins, and backbones from the fish. Wash and dry the fish.
Simmer the heads, fins, and bones in water to make a gravy.

Assemble and bake

Sprinkle the fish lightly with salt, pepper, and flour, then place in a baking dish with melted dripping.
Mix the bread crumbs, parsley, and herbs with a little salt and pepper, then spread over the fish.
Dredge the fish again with salt, pepper, and flour, finishing with additional bread crumbs.
Bake in a hot oven at 400°F (200°C) for about 30 minutes, basting a few times.

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.

Parsley + peppertop 2% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together34,122 recipes

Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
Parsley + flourtop 12% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together16,675 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Parsley + breadtop 15% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together8,588 recipes

Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
Bread + peppertop 16% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together20,964 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Flour + peppertop 19% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together50,459 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

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

What each ingredient does

Mackerel or herrings: The fish is the main body of the dish, cooked whole-section by baking in its own juices and fat.
Bread crumbs: Form a crisp, browned crust over the fish during baking.
Dripping: Adds fat that carries flavour and helps the fish and crumbs brown in the oven.
Flour: Dusts the fish so the seasoning adheres and helps the surface brown.

The step that matters

Basting the fish during baking. Basting spreads the melted fat over the surface, keeping the crumb topping from drying and burning while the fish cooks through gently.

Swap the parsley

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (bread, flour, pepper):

Turmericfits about as well
Marjoramfits about as well
Parsleythe original
Nutmegfits about as well

Fit is the average pairing score against bread, flour, pepper. 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.

Brown Bread461 recipes

White Bread80 recipes

Bread Omelette60 recipes

Oatmeal Bread51 recipes

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Baked Mackerel or Herrings