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Salmon and Codfish Casserole

A baked casserole of salmon, codfish, and mashed potatoes in a buttery sauce.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 21 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 ↓

Salmon and Codfish Casserole

Ingredients

Directions

The book gives no oven temperature. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point. The book gives no cooking times either; the times in the steps were added in transcription, so check for doneness rather than trusting the clock.

Make the sauce

  1. Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).

  2. In a saucepan, melt 2 teaspoons of butter and add the flour, stirring until smooth.

  3. Gradually add the milk and hot water, cooking until thickened.

Assemble and bake

  1. In a baking dish, layer the salmon, codfish, and mashed potatoes.

  2. Pour the sauce over the layers and mix gently.

  3. Beat the egg and combine with the remaining butter, vinegar, lemon juice, Worcestershire sauce, salt, and pepper.

  4. Spread this mixture over the casserole.

  5. Bake for 30 minutes or until golden brown.

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. Pepper + potatotop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together8,305 recipes

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

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

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

  4. Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together124,287 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  5. Butter + potatotop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together6,456 recipes

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

Butter and flour 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

Butter
Adds richness and flavour to the sauce and the topping.
Flour
Thickens the melted butter and milk into a smooth sauce.
Milk
Forms the liquid base of the sauce, which thickens as it cooks.
Egg
Binds the topping mixture so it sets and browns in the oven.
Potatoes
Provide bulk and a soft, starchy layer within the casserole.

The step that matters

Thickening the sauce. Flour must be cooked in the melted butter and the liquid added gradually, stirring, so the sauce thickens smoothly without lumps. Adding the liquid too fast or skipping the stirring can leave clumps of raw flour.

Swap the potato

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (salmon, milk, butter, pepper, flour, egg, vinegar):

  1. Chivefits about as well
  2. Capsicumfits about as well
  3. Asparagusfits about as well
  4. Potatothe original

Fit is the average pairing score against salmon, milk, butter, pepper, flour, egg, vinegar. 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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