Why it works: Butter and egg are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 17% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 118,967 recipes. Both carry decanal, which smells soap, orange peel. The science ↓
Boiled Codfish
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Soak the codfish overnight.
Cook and serve
Place the soaked codfish in a pan of cold water.
Simmer for 2 to 3 hours.
Serve with drawn butter and sliced hard boiled eggs.
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 + eggtop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together118,967 recipes
Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Codfish
- Provides the main protein; soaking removes salt so the flesh cooks mild and tender.
- Butter
- Adds richness and moisture when drawn and served over the fish.
- Hard boiled eggs
- Add soft, mild texture and richness alongside the fish.
The step that matters
Simmer for 2 to 3 hours. Simmering gently rather than boiling hard keeps the fish from breaking apart and turning tough. Holding the water just below a boil lets the fish cook through evenly while staying moist and flaky.
“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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