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Cod Roe and Cod Liver

A dish of cod roe mixed with cod liver, seasoned with salt and pepper, baked or cooked slowly, served with melted butter.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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Why it works: Roe and butter work together. They rank in the top 14% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 442 recipes. Both carry 2,6-nonadienal, which smells cucumber, green. The science ↓

Cod Roe and Cod Liver

Ingredients

Directions

The book gives no oven temperature. The 300°F (150°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.

Prepare the roe

  1. Cut open the skin surrounding the cod's liver and roe.

  2. Place the roe in a basin, cover with water, and mash to separate the eggs.

  3. Discard the water and add the salt and pepper.

  4. Let the mixture soak overnight, then wash well in two or three changes of water.

  5. Leave about ½ cup of water at the bottom.

Cook and serve

  1. Cut the cod liver into 6-8 pieces and place it over the roe.

  2. Cook on a very low heat or in an oven at 300°F (150°C) for one hour.

  3. Remove the liver and serve it as usual.

  4. Add the melted butter to the roe before serving.

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. Roe + buttertop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together442 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,6-nonadienal (cucumber, green).

  2. Liver + roetop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together69 recipes

    Shared aroma: eugenol (clove, spicy).

  3. Liver + buttertop 19% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,065 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

  4. Liver + peppertop 21% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,375 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

  5. Pepper + buttertop 21% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together85,593 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).

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

What each ingredient does

Cod roe
Forms the main body of the dish and sets to a firm, tender texture when gently cooked.
Cod liver
Adds richness and a soft, buttery texture as it cooks gently over the roe.
Melted butter
Adds fat and richness, giving the roe a smoother mouthfeel and flavor.

The step that matters

Cook on very low heat. Roe and liver are delicate proteins that toughen and become rubbery or grainy if cooked too hot or too long. Gentle, slow heat sets them evenly while keeping them moist.

“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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