Why it works: Fish and butter are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 12% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 4,488 recipes. Both carry (z)-4-heptenal, which smells biscuit, cream. The science ↓
Boiled Cod
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the fish
Soak the fish in cold water for 1 hour and wash it.
Place the fish in a large pot with enough cold water to cover it and add plenty of salt.
Bring the water to a boil quickly.
Skim off any foam that forms.
Cook and serve
Reduce heat and simmer until the fish is cooked through, about 15 minutes per pound.
Drain the fish and place it on a hot napkin.
Garnish with parsley.
Serve with melted butter or oyster sauce in a sauce boat.
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.
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Fish + buttertop 12% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together4,488 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
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Parsley + buttertop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together28,563 recipes
Shared aroma: trans-2-hexenal (green, leafy).
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Fish + parsleytop 18% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together2,341 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Cod
- Provides the main protein, which turns flaky and opaque as it cooks through.
- Melted butter
- Adds richness and fat to the mild fish as a serving sauce.
The step that matters
Skim off any foam that forms.. Foam is coagulated protein and impurities rising from the boiling water; removing it keeps the broth clear and the fish's surface clean.
Swap the parsley
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (fish, butter):
- Capersfits better
- Parsleythe original
- Tarragonfits about as well
- Nutmegfits less well
Fit is the average pairing score against fish, butter. 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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