Why it works: Butter and milk are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 81,283 recipes. Both carry (z)-4-heptenal, which smells biscuit, cream. The science ↓
Stewed Salt Cod
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the cod
Boil the soaked cod in water for 10 minutes.
Scrape the cod to remove skin and bones, then flake it.
Stew
In a stew pan, combine the flaked cod with 1 tablespoon of butter mixed with flour and enough milk to moisten.
Let it stew gently for 10 minutes.
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.
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Butter + milktop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together81,283 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
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Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Flour + milktop 14% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together78,219 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Butter and flour barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 124,287 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Soaked cod
- Provides the main protein, which firms when boiled and flakes into the dish.
- Butter
- Adds fat for richness and a smoother mouthfeel in the stew.
- Flour
- Thickens the stew as its starch swells with the butter and milk.
- Milk
- Moistens the cod and forms the creamy base of the stew.
The step that matters
Stew gently after adding the flour and milk. Gentle heat lets the flour starch swell evenly into a smooth thickened base and keeps the milk from scorching or separating, which a hard boil would cause.
“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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