Why it works: Onion and parsley are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 9% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 25,843 recipes. Both carry 2,4-decadienal, which smells seaweed. The science ↓
Baked Codfish
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.
Prepare
Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).
Place the codfish slices in a baking dish.
Bake and serve
Dot the fish with butter and add hot water, onion, parsley, and salt.
Bake for 30 minutes, basting three or four times.
Serve on a hot platter with gravy made from the drippings.
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.
-
Onion + parsleytop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together25,843 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
-
Butter + oniontop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together42,912 recipes
Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).
-
Butter + parsleytop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together28,563 recipes
Shared aroma: trans-2-hexenal (green, leafy).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Codfish
- Forms the main body of the dish; it firms and flakes as it cooks through.
- Butter
- Adds richness and fat that carries flavor and helps the fish brown lightly.
- Hot water
- Provides moisture and steam, and forms the drippings used for the gravy.
- Onion
- Adds a mild aroma and savory flavor to the cooking liquid.
The step that matters
Basting the fish. Cod is lean and dries out quickly in dry heat. Spooning the hot liquid over the slices several times keeps the surface moist and adds flavor, which is why the basting should not be skipped.
Swap the parsley
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (butter, onion):
- Garlicfits better
- Capersfits about as well
- Thymefits about as well
- Parsleythe original
Fit is the average pairing score against butter, onion. 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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