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Cod Pie, Salt

A baked pie with salt cod, potatoes, onions, butter, mustard, ketchup, anchovy essence, and pepper and mace.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 11 ingredients
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Why it works: Potato and onion are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 3% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 9,023 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓

Cod Pie, Salt

Oven, in the book's wordsA brisk oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a brisk oven”. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Prepare the cod

  1. Soak the salt cod for 12 hours, then simmer for 15 minutes.

  2. Cut the cod into 2-inch square pieces.

Assemble the pie

  1. In a deep pie dish, layer the sliced potatoes, then the cod, and then the sliced onions.

  2. Sprinkle pepper and mace on each layer and add a lump of butter.

  3. Mix melted butter with mustard, ketchup, and essence of anchovies, then pour over the pie.

  4. Cover with pie crust or spread mashed potatoes on top.

Bake

  1. Bake in a brisk oven at 400°F (200°C) for about 45 minutes.

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. Potato + oniontop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together9,023 recipes

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

  2. Onion + mustardtop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together9,259 recipes

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

  3. Potato + mustardtop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,340 recipes

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

  4. Pepper + mustardtop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together15,430 recipes

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

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

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

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

What each ingredient does

Salt cod
Provides the main savoury, salty flavour and the flaked texture of the filling.
Potatoes
Add starchy body and moisture, forming a soft layer under the cod.
Butter
Adds richness and moisture, helping the filling and topping brown as they bake.
Essence of anchovies
Adds concentrated savoury depth that enriches the fish flavour.
Mustard
Adds sharp, pungent flavour that balances the richness of the butter.

The step that matters

Soaking the salt cod. Salt cod must soak long enough to draw out salt; too little soaking leaves the fish overly salty. Simmering then softens the fish so it flakes evenly in the pie.

Swap the mace

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

  1. Capersfits better
  2. Celeryfits better
  3. Thymefits better
  4. Macethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against potato, onion, pepper, butter, mustard, ketchup. 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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