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Baked Cod

A baked cod fillet stuffed with breadcrumbs, pork, herbs, and butter, served with gravy.

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

Why it works: Marjoram and thyme match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,225 recipes. Both carry terpineol, which smells pine, woody. The science ↓

Baked Cod

Oven, in the book's wordsA moderate oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a moderate oven”. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Prepare the fish

  1. Soak the fish in cold, salted water for 30 minutes, then dry it.

  2. Prepare the stuffing by mixing bread crumbs, pork, herbs, onion, and seasoning, binding with the beaten egg.

  3. Stuff the fish with the mixture and place it in a baking dish.

Bake and serve

  1. Pour the melted butter over the fish, seasoned with sauce, lemon juice, pepper, and a pinch of parsley.

  2. Bake in a 350°F (175°C) oven for 1 hour, basting frequently.

  3. If the sauce thickens too much, add a little butter and water.

  4. Once done, transfer the fish to a hot dish, strain the gravy over it, and serve with capers or chopped green pickles if desired.

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.

Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it

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 + thymetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together2,225 recipes

    Shared aroma: terpineol (pine, woody).

  2. Parsley + thymetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together9,057 recipes

    Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).

  3. Parsley + marjoramtop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,979 recipes

    Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).

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

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

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

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

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

What each ingredient does

Cod fish
Forms the main body of the dish, cooking into moist, flaky flesh during baking.
Bread crumbs
Absorb moisture and bind the stuffing, giving it a soft, cohesive texture.
Melted butter
Adds fat and richness, and helps the surface brown while basting keeps the fish moist.
Beaten egg
Binds the stuffing together so it holds its shape inside the fish.
Salt pork
Adds fat and savory flavor that seasons the stuffing as it cooks.
Lemon juice
Adds acidity that brightens the buttery sauce and balances the rich fish.

The step that matters

Basting frequently during the one-hour bake. Fish is lean and dries out quickly in dry oven heat. Repeatedly spooning the butter sauce over it adds moisture and fat to the surface, keeping the flesh tender and the gravy from drying or reducing too far.

Swap the onion

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (fish, bread, pepper, pork, parsley, marjoram, thyme):

  1. Carrotfits better
  2. Shallotfits better
  3. Potatofits better
  4. Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against fish, bread, pepper, pork, parsley, marjoram, thyme. 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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