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Codfish Omelet

A savory omelet made with codfish, potatoes, egg, milk, butter, and seasonings.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 9 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 Omelet

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the cod and potatoes

  1. Soak the codfish overnight, then pick it apart into fine pieces.

  2. Boil the codfish with the sliced potatoes until cooked, then mash them together.

  3. Add pepper, salt, and butter to the mixture.

Make the egg mixture

  1. In a bowl, beat the egg yolk with the milk, then fold in the stiffly beaten egg white.

Cook and serve

  1. Melt the drippings in an iron frying pan, pour in the codfish mixture, and brown nicely.

  2. Fold the omelet over and garnish with parsley before serving.

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
Forms the main body of the omelet and gives it its savory flavor.
Raw potatoes
Boiled and mashed, they add bulk and a soft, starchy texture to the mixture.
Egg
Beaten white adds lightness, while the yolk helps bind the mixture together.
Butter
Adds richness and fat, improving flavor and mouthfeel of the mashed mixture.
Milk
Moistens the egg mixture, keeping the omelet tender as it cooks.

The step that matters

Fold in the stiffly beaten egg white. Whipped egg white traps air that gives the omelet lift. Folding gently, rather than stirring, keeps that air from deflating before the mixture hits the pan.

Swap the parsley

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

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

Fit is the average pairing score against potato, pepper, butter, egg, milk. 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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