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Salt Cod Fish

Salt cod fish boiled and served with mashed potatoes, seasoned with cayenne pepper and mustard.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 5 ingredients
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Why it works: Mustard and potato are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,340 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓

Salt Cod Fish

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Wash the salt cod fish and soak it overnight.

Cook and serve

  1. Boil the fish in fresh water until cooked, being careful not to let it fall apart.

  2. Serve the fish with mashed potatoes.

  3. Season with cayenne pepper and mustard at the table.

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. Mustard + potatotop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,340 recipes

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

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

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

  3. Pepper + potatotop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together8,305 recipes

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

  4. Fish + potatotop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together134 recipes

    Shared aroma: (e,z)-2,6-nonadienal (cucumber, melon).

  5. Fish + peppertop 21% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together3,948 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

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

What each ingredient does

Salt cod fish
Provides the main protein; soaking draws out salt so the fish becomes mild and tender.
Mashed potatoes
Serves as the starchy side that soaks up flavour and balances the salty fish.
Mustard
Adds sharp, pungent heat that cuts through the richness of the fish.
Cayenne pepper
Adds direct, sharp heat that seasons the fish at the table.

The step that matters

Boil the fish in fresh water until cooked, being careful not to let it fall apart. Fish proteins set and firm as they heat, and vigorous boiling can break the flakes apart. Gentle heat keeps the pieces intact and tender.

Swap the mustard

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (fish, pepper, potato):

  1. Capsicumfits better
  2. Tomatofits better
  3. Carrotfits better
  4. Mustardthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against fish, pepper, potato. 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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