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Slices of Cod a LA Seville

A baked cod dish served over fried rice with tomato and onion sauce.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 10 ingredients
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Why it works: Pepper and lemon match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and 27,039 recipes mention both. Both carry 2-nonenal, which smells fatty, green. The science ↓

The recipe

Ingredients

Contains: milk, fish (auto-detected from the ingredients and method; we can miss things, so check labels)

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.

Prepare the rice and cod

  1. Wash and dry the rice.

  2. Fry the rice in salad oil.

  3. Drain the fried rice on a sieve.

  4. Place the fried rice in a large pan.

  5. Fry the cod pieces in salad oil until golden.

  6. Drain the cod pieces.

  7. Place the cod pieces on the rice.

Make the tomato and onion sauce

  1. Slice the onion thinly.

  2. Fry the sliced onion in the oil used for the fish.

  3. Drain the onion oil.

  4. Add the tomatoes (seeds removed) to the onion.

  5. Simmer the tomato and onion mixture for 5 minutes.

  6. Pour the tomato and onion mixture over the fish and rice.

  7. Season with cayenne, salt, and lemon juice.

  8. Moisten with broth.

Bake and serve

  1. Cover with buttered paper.

  2. Bake in a 350°F (175°C) oven for about 30 minutes.

  3. Remove the cod from the rice.

  4. Stir the rice over the fire to mix in the seasoning.

  5. Serve the rice on a silver dish with the cod on top.

  6. Sauce with Muscle sauce.

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 aroma chemistry they share, and how many recipes mention both.

  1. Pepper + lemontop 2% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together27,039 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

  2. Rice + tomatotop 3% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together2,990 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans,trans-2,4-nonadienal (fatty, green).

  3. Tomato + peppertop 4% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together17,913 recipes

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

  4. Onion + tomatotop 4% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together20,622 recipes

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

  5. Rice + oniontop 5% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together9,990 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Carolina rice
Forms the bed that absorbs the broth and seasoning as it cooks.
Cod
Provides the main protein; frying first gives it a golden, firm exterior.
Spanish onion
Softens and sweetens as it fries, adding depth to the tomato sauce.
Ripe tomatoes
Break down into the moist, acidic sauce that flavours the rice and fish.
Broth
Adds liquid and savoury flavour so the rice cooks through in the oven.
Lemon juice
Adds acidity that brightens the sauce and balances the richness of the frying oil.

The step that matters

Frying the rice and cod until golden. Frying gives the rice and fish a seared, browned surface that adds flavour and helps them hold their shape. Drain well afterwards, because excess oil left on them makes the finished dish greasy.

Flavor stand-ins for the onion

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (rice, tomato, pepper, lemon, butter):

  1. Capsicumbetter flavor fit
  2. Potatobetter flavor fit
  3. Carrotbetter flavor fit
  4. Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against rice, tomato, pepper, lemon, butter. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes. This compares flavor only: it does not check the job the ingredient does in the dish (bulk, moisture, acidity, structure).

“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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