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Planked Shad or Lake White Fish

A whole shad or lake white fish baked on a plank with butter, salt, pepper, and duchess potatoes, garnished with parsley, radishes, and lemon.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 11 ingredients
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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 ↓

Planked Shad or Lake White 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

  1. Preheat the oven to 400°F (200°C).

  2. Lay the fish skin side down on a plank.

  3. Brush the fish with melted butter and sprinkle with salt and pepper.

Bake and finish

  1. Bake for about 30 minutes.

  2. Fill the space between the fish and the edge of the board with duchess potatoes.

  3. Brush the potatoes with the beaten egg diluted with milk.

  4. Return to the oven and let brown.

  5. Garnish with parsley, radishes, and lemon.

  6. Serve with maitre d' hotel butter.

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

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

  2. Potato + parsleytop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,855 recipes

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

  3. Parsley + radishtop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together120 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-hexenal (green, leafy).

  4. Butter + milktop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together81,283 recipes

    Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).

  5. Pepper + potatotop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together8,305 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

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

What each ingredient does

Shad (in the method)
Provides the main protein, which cooks through gently on the plank while staying moist.
Butter
Adds fat that keeps the fish moist and carries flavour as it cooks.
Duchess potatoes
Form a piped border that cooks and browns around the fish on the plank.
Egg
Mixed with milk and brushed on, it sets and browns the potato surface.

The step that matters

Return to the oven and let brown. The potatoes need enough heat to brown without drying out. Browning comes from Maillard reactions at higher surface temperatures, so watch the colour closely rather than relying on time alone.

Swap the radish

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (fish, butter, pepper, potato, egg, milk, parsley):

  1. Capsicumfits better
  2. Chivefits better
  3. Asparagusfits better
  4. Radishthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against fish, butter, pepper, potato, egg, milk, parsley. 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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