Why it works: Lemon and parsley match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 14,037 recipes. Both carry beta-phellandrene, which smells minty, terpene. The science ↓
Boiled Fresh Cod
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Prepare the cod by removing any gills.
Place the cod in a steamer or a bag that fits the piece.
Cook
Fill a kettle with 3 quarts of water and bring it to a boil.
Add the cod and simmer gently until cooked through.
For added flavor, include salt, vinegar, and horseradish in the water while cooking.
Serve
Serve the cod with egg sauce, lemon slices, and parsley.
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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Lemon + parsleytop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together14,037 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).
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Horseradish + parsleytop 6% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together562 recipes
Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).
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Horseradish + lemontop 9% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together1,155 recipes
Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).
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Vinegar + horseradishtop 12% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together2,609 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Horseradish + saucetop 12% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together775 recipes
Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Cod
- Forms the main body of the dish, cooking to flaky, tender flesh with gentle heat.
- Coarse sea salt
- Seasons the cooking water so the fish is lightly flavored throughout.
- Vinegar
- Adds a sharp acidity that brightens the mild flavor of the fish.
The step that matters
Simmer gently until cooked through. Boiling vigorously can toughen and break apart delicate fish proteins, leaving the flesh dry and ragged. Gentle simmering cooks the cod evenly while keeping it moist and tender.
“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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