Why it works: Flour and butter are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 12% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 124,287 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓
Boiled Cod
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Place the cod in cold water with a handful of coarse sea salt and let it soak for one hour.
Scrape and wash the fish thoroughly, then rub a little salt and cayenne pepper into the flesh.
Dust the fish with flour and tie it tightly in a cloth.
Cook and serve
Place the wrapped fish in boiling water and cook for thirty minutes, adjusting time based on the size of the fish.
Serve with drawn butter and chopped hard boiled eggs or oyster sauce if desired.
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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Flour + buttertop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Butter + oystertop 12% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together8,184 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,6-nonadienal (cucumber, green).
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Egg + oystertop 14% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together4,103 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Oyster + saucetop 14% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together2,233 recipes
Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
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Butter + saucetop 15% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together15,338 recipes
Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
Flour and butter 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
- Forms the main flaky body of the dish, cooked gently in boiling water until it firms.
- Flour
- Dusted on the fish to help form a light coating that holds the cloth and protects the surface.
- Drawn butter
- Adds richness and moisture to the mild, lean fish when served.
- Hard boiled eggs
- Adds richness and a soft, crumbly texture as an optional topping.
The step that matters
Keep the fish wrapped tightly and cook it in gently boiling water for the right time. A tight cloth keeps the fish in one piece and its shape while cooking. Cooking time depends on the fish's size, so checking for a flake that separates easily helps avoid dry or undercooked flesh.
“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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