Why it works: Anchovy and fish work together. They rank in the top 9% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 637 recipes. Both carry decanal, which smells soap, orange peel. The science ↓
To Dress Fish
Ingredients
Directions
The book says “a slow oven”. The 300°F (150°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.
Bake the fish
Preheat the oven to 300°F (150°C).
Cover the fish with bacon and place it in a baking dish.
Add 1 pint of good stock and bake until done, depending on the size of the fish.
Remove the fish from the baking dish and strain the cooking liquid.
Skim off the fat from the liquid.
Make the sauce
In a saucepan, melt 2 ounces of butter over medium heat.
Add enough flour to absorb the butter and create a paste.
Pour in the strained cooking liquid and boil for a few minutes.
Strain the sauce through a fine sieve into another saucepan.
Season the sauce with Cayenne pepper, anchovy essence, orange juice, and sugar.
Serve
Place the fish on a serving dish and pour the sauce over it.
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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Anchovy + fishtop 9% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together637 recipes
Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).
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Pepper + orangetop 10% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together2,402 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl 2-methylbutyrate (fruity, apple).
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Butter + fishtop 12% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together4,488 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
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Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Butter + anchovytop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together3,697 recipes
Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).
Butter and flour barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 124,287 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Bacon
- Wraps the fish, adding savoury fat and flavour while the fish bakes in the stock.
- Butter
- Enriches the sauce with fat and flavour, and forms the base of the flour paste.
- Flour
- Absorbs the melted butter to form a paste that thickens the sauce.
- Stock
- Provides the cooking liquid that gently moistens the fish and becomes the base of the sauce.
- Seville orange juice
- Adds acidity and bright citrus aroma that balances the rich sauce.
The step that matters
Bake until done, depending on the size of the fish. Fish is cooked when it turns opaque and flakes easily; overcooking dries the flesh, while underbaking leaves it raw. Thickness, not weight alone, determines time, so check the thickest part.
Swap the orange
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (butter, flour, pepper, anchovy, sugar, fish):
- Lemonfits better
- Raisinfits better
- Limefits better
- Orangethe original
Fit is the average pairing score against butter, flour, pepper, anchovy, sugar, fish. 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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