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 Cod
Ingredients
Directions
The book gives no oven temperature. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.
Prepare
Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).
Stuff and bake
Stuff the cod with a mixture of bread crumbs, butter, salt, pepper, and optional parsley and spices.
Place the fish in a baking dish with 1 cup of water and a lump of butter.
Bake for 45 minutes to 1 hour, until cooked through.
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.
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Pepper + parsleytop 2% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together34,122 recipes
Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
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Bread + buttertop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together27,232 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).
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Butter + parsleytop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together28,563 recipes
Shared aroma: trans-2-hexenal (green, leafy).
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Bread + parsleytop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together8,588 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
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Bread + peppertop 16% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together20,964 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Cod
- Forms the main body of the dish; it cooks through gently in the oven, turning flaky and opaque.
- Bread crumbs
- Absorb moisture and butter in the stuffing, keeping the filling soft rather than watery.
- Butter
- Adds fat and richness, carrying flavour and helping keep the fish moist as it bakes.
The step that matters
Baking time and doneness. Fish cooks quickly and can dry out. The record gives a range of 45 minutes to 1 hour, so check that the fish is opaque and flakes easily at the thickest part, especially since a whole fish with stuffing is thick and may need the longer end.
Swap the parsley
The recipe marks parsley as optional. How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (bread, butter, pepper):
- Parsleythe original
- Sagefits about as well
- Thymefits less well
- Nutmegfits less well
Fit is the average pairing score against bread, butter, 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.
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