Name: Fillets of Cod a LA Normande
Ingredients: 3 slices of cod (1 to 1½ inches thick); ½ cup white wine; 2 tablespoons butter; ½ pint white sauce; 12 small oysters, cleaned; 12 small quenelles; 12 button mushrooms; pepper to taste; coarse sea salt to taste

Why it works: White wine and mushroom are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,765 recipes. Both carry ethyl octanoate, which smells fruity. The science ↓

Fillets of Cod a LA Normande

Oven, in the book's wordsA moderate oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a moderate oven”. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Bake the cod

Butter a tin dish and lay the cod slices in it.
Pour the white wine over the cod.
Cover with buttered paper and bake at 350°F (175°C) for 15 minutes.

Make the sauce

In a saucepan, reduce another ½ cup of white wine by simmering.
Add the white sauce, oysters, quenelles, and mushrooms to the reduced wine.
Season with pepper and coarse sea salt, and simmer for 1 minute.

Serve

Place the baked cod on a hot dish, pour the sauce over it, and arrange the oysters, mushrooms, and quenelles around the dish.

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.

White wine + mushroomtop 5% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together1,765 recipes

Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity).
Butter + mushroomtop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together12,525 recipes

Shared aroma: trans-2-decenal (waxy, orange).
White wine + buttertop 9% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together5,083 recipes

Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).
Mushroom + peppertop 11% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together13,580 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Butter + oystertop 12% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together8,184 recipes

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

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

What each ingredient does

Cod: Forms the main body of the dish, cooking gently to flake into moist, tender pieces.
White wine: Adds acidity and aroma, and reduced wine gives the sauce concentrated flavour.
Butter: Adds richness and helps prevent the cod from sticking to the dish.
White sauce: Provides a creamy coating that carries flavour and keeps the fish moist.
Oysters: Contribute a briny, savoury flavour that enriches the sauce.
Button mushrooms: Add earthy savouriness and a tender, meaty texture to the garnish.

The step that matters

Reducing the second ½ cup of white wine. Simmering until the wine thins and concentrates intensifies its flavour and acidity. Under-reduced wine leaves the sauce thin and sharp, while over-reduced wine turns it too salty-tasting and syrupy once the sauce is added.

“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.