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Codfish and Potato Stew

A stew of codfish and mashed potatoes cooked with butter, milk, pepper, and parsley.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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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 ↓

Codfish and Potato Stew

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the cod

  1. Soak, boil, and pick the salted codfish.

  2. If using fresh codfish, boil and break it into bits.

Make the stew

  1. Combine the codfish with an equal quantity of mashed potatoes, 1 tablespoon of butter, and enough milk to make the mixture soft.

  2. Transfer the mixture to a skillet and add a small amount of boiling water to prevent burning.

  3. Turn and toss the mixture constantly until it is hot but not dry.

  4. Season with pepper and parsley, then serve.

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. Pepper + parsleytop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together34,122 recipes

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

  2. Potato + parsleytop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,855 recipes

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

  3. Butter + milktop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together81,283 recipes

    Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).

  4. Potato + peppertop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together8,305 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  5. Potato + milktop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together3,611 recipes

    Shared aroma: (e,z)-2,6-nonadienal (cucumber, melon).

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

What each ingredient does

Codfish
Provides the main protein and flaky texture that forms the body of the stew.
Mashed potatoes
Bind the fish and add body and softness to the mixture.
Butter
Adds richness and fat for a smoother, more rounded flavour.
Milk
Adds moisture so the mixture becomes soft and creamy rather than dry.

The step that matters

Toss until hot but not dry. Stirring constantly over heat evens out the temperature and drives off excess moisture. Stopping too early leaves it cold in places, while overcooking dries the potatoes and fish, making the stew crumbly and tough.

Swap the parsley

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (potato, butter, milk, pepper):

  1. Parsleythe original
  2. Thymefits about as well
  3. Cinnamonfits less well
  4. Nutmegfits less well

Fit is the average pairing score against potato, butter, milk, 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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