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To Fricassee Cod Sounds and Tongues

Cod sounds and tongues boiled in milk and water, then served in a butter and flour milk sauce.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
By Mary Randolph (1762–1828) · From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 4 ingredients
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Why it works: Nutmeg and pepper match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 13,015 recipes. Both carry 4'-methylacetophenone, which smells bitter almond. The science ↓

To Fricassee Cod Sounds and Tongues

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the fish

  1. Soak them all night in fresh water.

  2. Take off the skins.

  3. Cut them in two pieces.

Cook the fish

  1. Boil them in milk and water till quite tender.

  2. Drain them in a colander.

  3. Season with nutmeg, pepper, and a little salt.

Make the sauce

  1. Take as much new milk as will make sauce for it.

  2. Roll a good lump of butter in flour.

  3. Melt it in the milk.

  4. Put the fish in.

Finish

  1. Set it over the fire and stir it till thick enough.

  2. Serve it up.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

18Calories
0 gProtein
1 gFat
3 gCarbs
What these numbers assume: 3 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Nutmeg1 tsp ground (2.2g)12
Black Pepper1 tsp ground (2.3g)6
Salt1 tsp (6g)0

One typical portion per ingredient; the recipe's quantities are not counted. A rough guide only, not for medical or dietary planning.

By Mary Randolph (1762–1828). 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. See the original page.

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. Nutmeg + peppertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together13,015 recipes

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

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

What each ingredient does

Cod sounds and tongues (in the method)
The main protein; boiling until tender makes the firm flesh soft enough to eat.
Milk (in the method)
Forms the base of the sauce and, with butter and flour, gives it a smooth, creamy body.
Butter (in the method)
Adds richness and flavour to the sauce and helps it coat the fish.
Flour (in the method)
Thickens the milk as its starch swells when heated, so the sauce becomes thick.

The step that matters

Stirring the sauce until thick. Flour rolled in butter must be stirred into hot milk so it disperses evenly; stirring over heat keeps it smooth and lets the starch swell and thicken the sauce without lumps or scorching.

“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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