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Curried God

A cod steak dish simmered in a curry-flavored white gravy with onions, cream, and spices.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 ingredients
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Why it works: Butter and cream are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 8% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 41,516 recipes. Both carry delta-dodecalactone, which smells sweet, creamy. The science ↓

Curried God

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Cut cod into handsome steaks.

  2. Slice a number of onions.

Cook

  1. Fry the cod and onions until golden brown.

  2. Stew the fish in white gravy.

  3. Add curry powder and cayenne pepper.

  4. Thicken with cream, a little butter, a pinch of salt, and flour.

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. Butter + creamtop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together41,516 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).

  2. Onion + peppertop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together68,474 recipes

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

  3. Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together124,287 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  4. Onion + buttertop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together42,912 recipes

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

  5. Onion + flourtop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together32,460 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

Cod steaks
Forms the main protein that holds its shape and flakes when cooked through.
Onions
Soften and brown to add sweetness and savoury depth to the sauce.
Butter
Adds fat and richness for browning the fish and onions.
Curry powder
Provides the warm, aromatic spice blend that defines the dish.
Cream
Adds richness and body to the gravy, mellowing the heat of the spices.
Flour
Thickens the white gravy so it coats the fish.

The step that matters

Thicken with cream, a little butter, a pinch of salt, and flour. Flour needs to be cooked into the liquid, or it stays raw-tasting and can clump. Adding it gradually while stirring gives a smooth gravy with even body.

Swap the onion

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (butter, pepper, cream, flour):

  1. Spinachfits better
  2. Leekfits better
  3. Potatofits better
  4. Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against butter, pepper, cream, flour. 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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