Why it works: Olive and tomato match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and 14,164 recipes mention both. Both carry 3-hexenal, which smells apple, fruity. The science ↓
The recipe
Ingredients
Directions
The book gives no oven temperature. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.
Prepare the cod
Soak the codfish overnight in cold water.
Boil the codfish in cold water for 40 minutes.
Remove the bones from the codfish and let it cool.
Make the sauce
In a pan, fry the onions and garlic in olive oil.
Add the chopped sweet pepper to the tomato sauce.
Combine the fried onions and garlic with the tomato sauce.
Bake and serve
Cut croutons from the soft part of the loaf and fry them in oil.
Place the codfish into the tomato sauce and heat thoroughly in a deep dish in the oven at 350°F (175°C) for about 15 minutes.
Arrange the croutons around the codfish as a border and serve in the same dish.
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 aroma chemistry they share, and how many recipes mention both.
-
Olive + tomatotop 1% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together14,164 recipes
Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).
-
Onion + garlictop 1% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together29,030 recipes
Shared aroma: furaneol (caramel, strawberry).
-
Garlic + tomatotop 2% of all pairsAroma overlapmoderateMentioned together14,075 recipes
Shared aroma: furaneol (caramel, strawberry).
-
Garlic + olivetop 3% of all pairsAroma overlapmoderateMentioned together23,449 recipes
Shared aroma: linalool (floral, citrus).
-
Tomato + peppertop 4% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together17,913 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
- Dried salt codfish
- Forms the main body of the dish, flaked into the sauce as its protein.
- Olive oil
- Carries the onion and garlic flavour and adds richness when frying.
- Onion
- Softens and sweetens when fried, building the base flavour of the sauce.
- Tomato sauce
- Provides moisture and acidity that coat and flavour the cod.
- Red sweet pepper
- Adds sweetness and fresh texture to the tomato sauce.
The step that matters
Heating the cod in the sauce. Salt cod is very salty after soaking and boiling; the cod must be fully desalted and bone-free before it goes into the sauce, or the dish will taste harsh. Gentle, thorough heating keeps the fish tender rather than dry or tough.
Flavor stand-ins for the onion
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (garlic, olive, tomato, sauce, pepper):
- Capsicumbetter flavor fit
- Eggplantabout as good a flavor fit
- Potatoabout as good a flavor fit
- Onionthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against garlic, olive, tomato, sauce, pepper. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes. This compares flavor only: it does not check the job the ingredient does in the dish (bulk, moisture, acidity, structure).
“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.
You might also like
Illustration
Illustration
Illustration
IllustrationThe Sunday pairing: one pairing, the chemistry behind it, and how to cook it. No spam, unsubscribe anytime.
Prefer an account? Create a free account for sign-in; Pro adds the full results and chemistry.