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Baked Codfish and Potatoes

A baked dish of mashed potatoes mixed with shredded codfish, eggs, butter, milk, and pepper.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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Why it works: Butter and milk are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 81,283 recipes. Both carry (z)-4-heptenal, which smells biscuit, cream. The science ↓

Baked Codfish and Potatoes

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. Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).

Mix and bake

  1. In a bowl, mix the mashed potatoes, shredded codfish, eggs, butter, milk, and pepper.

  2. Pour the mixture into a baking dish.

  3. Bake for about 15 minutes, or until set.

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 + milktop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together81,283 recipes

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

  2. Potato + peppertop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together8,305 recipes

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

  3. Potato + milktop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together3,611 recipes

    Shared aroma: (e,z)-2,6-nonadienal (cucumber, melon).

  4. Potato + walnuttop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together342 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-undecenal (sweet).

  5. Walnut + peppertop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together3,039 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Mashed potatoes
Provides the bulk and soft body that holds the dish together.
Shredded codfish
Supplies the main protein and savory flavor of the dish.
Eggs
Bind the mixture and set it into a firm, sliceable texture when baked.
Butter
Adds fat for richness and a smoother mouthfeel.
Milk
Adds moisture and creaminess, keeping the mixture from drying out as it bakes.

The step that matters

Bake until just set. Eggs set as they heat, and overbaking pushes them past that point, making the texture dry, rubbery, or grainy. Pull the dish once the centre is firm, since it keeps setting as it cools.

Swap the walnut

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (potato, egg, butter, milk, pepper):

  1. Peanutfits about as well
  2. Walnutthe original
  3. Peasfits about as well
  4. Beansfits about as well

Fit is the average pairing score against potato, egg, butter, milk, pepper. 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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