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Codfish Omelette

A baked codfish omelette made with milk, flour, butter, and eggs.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 5 ingredients
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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 ↓

Codfish Omelette

Oven, in the book's wordsA hot oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a hot oven”. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Prepare the codfish

  1. Soak the salt codfish overnight in enough water to cover.

  2. Press dry and chop the codfish very fine.

Make the custard

  1. In a saucepan, bring the milk to a boil.

  2. In a separate bowl, mix the flour with the butter until smooth.

  3. Stir the flour mixture into the boiling milk thoroughly.

  4. Add the beaten eggs and mix well.

Bake

  1. Pour the mixture into a buttered dish.

  2. Bake in a hot oven at 400°F (200°C) until it rises and browns on top.

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. Milk + buttertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together81,283 recipes

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

  2. Flour + buttertop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together124,287 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  3. Milk + flourtop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together78,219 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  4. Flour + eggtop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together106,462 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  5. Butter + eggtop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together118,967 recipes

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

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 savoury flavour and the bulk of the dish.
Eggs
Set when baked, giving the omelette its structure and helping it rise.
Flour
Thickens the boiling milk so the mixture holds together rather than staying watery.
Milk
Forms the liquid base that the eggs and flour set into a soft custard.
Butter
Adds richness and fat, and enriches the flavour and texture of the mixture.

The step that matters

Stirring the flour mixture into the boiling milk. Flour must be stirred in thoroughly while the milk is boiling so it swells and thickens evenly; unmixed lumps of flour will not cook out and can leave the base pasty.

“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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