Why it works: Milk and butter 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 ↓
Salt Codfish
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the codfish
Soak the salt codfish well.
Boil the codfish for one hour, changing the water twice.
Remove the codfish to a dish and mince it well with a knife and fork.
Make the dish
Place the minced codfish in a pot over low heat.
Add enough sweet milk to cover the codfish.
Stir in a little flour, butter, pepper, and coarse sea salt to taste.
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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Milk + buttertop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together81,283 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
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Flour + buttertop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Milk + flourtop 14% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together78,219 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Flour + peppertop 19% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together50,459 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Butter + peppertop 21% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together85,593 recipes
Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).
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
- Salt codfish
- Provides the main body and flavour of the dish once soaked and boiled.
- Sweet milk
- Adds moisture and creaminess as the codfish warms over low heat.
- Flour
- Thickens the milk so the mixture becomes creamy rather than watery.
- Butter
- Adds richness and fat, contributing smoothness and flavour.
The step that matters
Stir in the flour gently over low heat. Flour thickens liquid only when it is dispersed evenly and heated gently; adding it too quickly or over high heat can create lumps or scorch the milk before the sauce thickens properly.
“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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