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Stewed Codfish with Eggs

A stewed codfish dish with boiled eggs, potatoes, milk, butter, and Worcestershire sauce.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 10 ingredients
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Why it works: Onion and potato are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 3% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 9,023 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓

Stewed Codfish with Eggs

Ingredients

Directions

Make the sauce

  1. Boil the milk in a pot.

  2. Add the boiled potatoes, flour, butter, parsley, onion, pepper, and Worcestershire sauce.

  3. Stir until the mixture thickens.

Finish the dish

  1. Add the codfish and quartered hard boiled eggs.

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. Onion + potatotop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together9,023 recipes

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

  2. Parsley + potatotop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,855 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

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

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

  4. Parsley + oniontop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together25,843 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).

  5. Milk + potatotop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together3,611 recipes

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

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

What each ingredient does

Codfish
Forms the main body of the dish, providing flaky protein and savory flavor.
Milk
Forms the liquid base of the sauce, adding creaminess and body as it thickens.
Flour
Thickens the milk into a smooth sauce by swelling with heat and binding the liquid.
Butter
Adds richness and fat that gives the sauce a smooth, rounded mouthfeel.
Hard boiled eggs
Add substance and a firm, mild texture that complements the fish and sauce.
Potatoes
Add starch and body, helping the dish feel hearty and filling.

The step that matters

Stir until the mixture thickens. Flour must be cooked in the hot milk while stirring, so starch granules swell evenly and the sauce thickens smoothly without lumps or a raw floury taste.

Swap the onion

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

  1. Chivefits better
  2. Shallotfits better
  3. Asparagusfits better
  4. Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against butter, egg, parsley, flour, milk, sauce, potato. 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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