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To Fricassee Cod Sounds and Tongues

A fricassee of cod sounds and tongues, boiled in milk and water, then finished in a butter and milk sauce.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
By Mary Randolph · From a historical cookbook (Project Gutenberg) · 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 the cod sounds and tongues 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 until 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 the sauce.

  2. Roll a good lump of butter in flour.

  3. Melt the butter in the milk.

  4. Put the fish in.

  5. Set it over the fire and stir until thick enough.

Serve

  1. 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. Recipe from a historical cookbook (Project Gutenberg).

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)
Forms the main body of the dish, becoming tender after long boiling.
Milk (in the method)
Serves as the liquid base of the sauce and cooks the fish to tenderness.
Butter (in the method)
Adds richness and fat, carrying flavour through the sauce.
Flour (in the method)
Thickens the milk into a smooth sauce when melted with butter.
Nutmeg
Adds a warm, aromatic note to the fish.

The step that matters

Set it over the fire and stir until thick enough. Flour rolled in butter only thickens smoothly when it is stirred constantly over gentle heat. Left still, the flour can clump into lumps or scorch on the bottom of the pan, and the sauce may also turn grainy from milk overheating.

“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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