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Codfish and Potato Stew

A stew of codfish and mashed potatoes cooked with butter, milk, and water, seasoned with pepper and parsley.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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Why it works: Pepper and parsley match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 34,122 recipes. Both carry 4'-methylacetophenone, which smells bitter almond. The science ↓

Codfish and Potato Stew

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the fish

  1. Soak, boil, and flake the codfish into small pieces.

  2. Mix in an equal quantity of mashed potatoes.

Cook the stew

  1. Add 1 tablespoon of butter and 1 tablespoon of milk to make the mixture soft.

  2. Transfer the mixture to a skillet and add a little boiling water to prevent burning.

  3. Turn and toss until the stew is hot but not dry.

  4. Season with pepper and parsley to taste.

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. Pepper + parsleytop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together34,122 recipes

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

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

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

  5. Potato + milktop 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
Provides the main protein and flaky texture of the stew.
Mashed potatoes
Binds the flaked fish and adds body and softness to the mixture.
Butter
Adds richness and fat, helping keep the mixture soft and flavourful.
Milk
Adds moisture and softness to the mixture.

The step that matters

Turn and toss until hot but not dry. Once the mixture is heated through, further cooking evaporates the moisture from the potatoes and milk, leaving the stew dry and crumbly. Adding a little boiling water earlier helps prevent scorching in the skillet.

Swap the parsley

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

  1. Parsleythe original
  2. Thymefits about as well
  3. Cinnamonfits less well
  4. Nutmegfits less well

Fit is the average pairing score against potato, 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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