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Shredded Codfish Omelet

A savory omelet made with shredded codfish, boiled potatoes, and butter, topped with fried bacon and parsley.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 9 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 ↓

Shredded Codfish Omelet

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the filling

  1. In a pan, cook the flour and butter together until combined, then gradually add the hot milk and a little pepper, stirring until thickened.

  2. Pour boiling water over the shredded codfish, then drain the codfish.

  3. Mix the drained codfish with the thickened milk, then combine this mixture with the chopped cold boiled potatoes.

Cook and serve

  1. In a skillet, heat 1 tablespoon of butter and add the codfish mixture.

  2. Cook slowly until a thick brown crust forms.

  3. Fold the omelet and turn it out onto a hot platter.

  4. Garnish with curls of fried bacon and parsley.

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. Pepper + potatotop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together8,305 recipes

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

  5. Milk + potatotop 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

Cold boiled potatoes
Bulk and body, giving the omelet its substance alongside the codfish.
Shredded codfish
Provides the salty, savoury flavour that is the main character of the dish.
Butter
Adds richness and helps the underside brown in the skillet.
Flour
Thickens the hot milk into a binding sauce that holds the mixture together.
Hot milk
Makes a creamy base that moistens the potatoes and codfish.

The step that matters

Cook slowly until a thick brown crust forms. Low, gentle heat lets the underside brown evenly without scorching before the mixture sets through. Rushing with high heat can burn the bottom while the center stays wet and loose.

Swap the parsley

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

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

Fit is the average pairing score against flour, butter, milk, pepper, potato. 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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