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Cod Pie

A baked pie with flaked cod, oysters, melted butter, and mashed potato topping.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 4 ingredients
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Why it works: Oyster and butter are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 12% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 8,184 recipes. Both carry 2,6-nonadienal, which smells cucumber, green. The science ↓

Cod Pie

Ingredients

Directions

The book gives no oven temperature. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.

Prepare

  1. Flake the fish from the bone and remove all the skin.

  2. Place the flaked fish in a pie dish.

Assemble and bake

  1. Pour the melted butter and oysters over the fish.

  2. Cover with mashed potatoes.

  3. Bake at 350°F (175°C) for 30 minutes until golden brown.

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. Oyster + buttertop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together8,184 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,6-nonadienal (cucumber, green).

  2. Butter + potatotop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together6,456 recipes

    Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).

  3. Oyster + potatotop 19% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together229 recipes

    Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).

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 pie, supplying the flaky, tender filling.
Oysters
Add briny, savoury flavour that seasons the mild fish.
Butter
Adds richness and moisture to the filling and helps the top brown.
Mashed potatoes
Form a soft topping that sets and browns in the oven.

The step that matters

Covering with mashed potatoes. The potato layer should seal the fish completely so steam stays inside and the fish cooks gently. Gaps let the filling dry out or bubble over the edges.

Swap the potato

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

  1. Shallotfits about as well
  2. Cucumberfits about as well
  3. Potatothe original
  4. Onionfits less well

Fit is the average pairing score against oyster, butter. 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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