Skip to main content
Main

Codfish Hash

A hash of parboiled codfish, mashed potatoes, butter, and milk, baked or fried until browned.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 4 ingredients
Jump to recipe ↓

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 ↓

Codfish Hash

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Parboil the codfish for 15 to 20 minutes.

  2. Break the codfish into small pieces.

  3. Boil and mash the potatoes.

Mix

  1. Combine the mashed potatoes with the codfish, butter, and enough milk to make a soft mixture.

  2. Beat well and season if necessary.

Cook and serve

  1. Transfer to the oven to brown.

  2. Cook in a buttered skillet on the stove without stirring until browned underneath.

  3. Fold and serve.

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

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

  3. Potato + buttertop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together6,456 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

Salt codfish
Provides the main savory flavor and the flaked texture of the hash.
Potatoes
Mashed starch that binds the mixture and gives it a soft, creamy body.
Butter
Adds richness and helps the surface brown in the skillet.
Milk
Adds moisture so the mixture becomes soft and easy to shape and fold.

The step that matters

Cook in a buttered skillet without stirring until browned underneath. Leaving the hash undisturbed lets a crust form on the base through browning, which gives flavor and texture. Stirring breaks up that contact with the pan and prevents the crust from developing.

“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.

You might also like

Potato CroquettesPotato Croquettes255 recipesPotato RollsPotato Rolls78 recipesPotato ChipsPotato Chips53 recipesSweet Potato CroquettesSweet Potato Croquettes53 recipes