Why it works: Pepper and parsley 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 Fish
Ingredients
Directions
The book says “a rather hot oven”. The 400°F in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.
Prepare the fish
Scrape and wash the fish clean, then rub it with 1 tablespoon of salt.
Roll the crackers finely and mix with parsley, ½ teaspoon pepper, ½ tablespoon salt, 1 tablespoon chopped pork, and ⅛ cup water.
Stuff the mixture into the fish and fasten it with a skewer.
Cut gashes across the fish, about ½ inch deep and 2 inches long, and insert strips of the remaining pork.
Dredge the fish with flour.
Bake and serve
Place a tin sheet in a baking pan, lay the fish on it, and cover the bottom of the pan with hot water.
Bake in a hot oven (400°F / 200°C) for 1 hour, basting often with the pan gravy and dredging with salt, pepper, and flour.
Renew the water in the pan as needed.
Once done, lift the fish out onto a platter.
Set the baking pan on the stove; if there isn't enough gravy, add more water.
Mix 1 teaspoon of flour with cold water, stir it into the boiling gravy, season, and serve with the fish.
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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Pepper + parsleytop 2% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together34,122 recipes
Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
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Fish + porktop 12% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together668 recipes
Shared aroma: 4-heptenal (creamy, biscuit).
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Parsley + flourtop 12% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together16,675 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Pork + peppertop 16% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together22,121 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Fish + parsleytop 18% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together2,341 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
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, cooking through in the oven to become tender and flaky.
- Crackers
- Crushed into the stuffing to bind it and give it body that holds moisture.
- Pork
- Adds fat and savory richness to the stuffing and the gashes, keeping the fish moist.
- Flour
- Dusted on the fish and used to thicken the pan gravy, giving it body.
The step that matters
Renewing the water and basting in the pan. The water in the pan turns into the gravy used for basting and thickening. If it runs dry, the bottom scorches and the fish dries out, so the water must be topped up during baking.
Swap the parsley
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (fish, pork, pepper, flour):
- Marjoramfits about as well
- Thymefits about as well
- Turmericfits about as well
- Parsleythe original
Fit is the average pairing score against fish, pork, pepper, flour. 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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