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Slices of Cod Fish Fried

Fried cod slices seasoned with salt, pepper, flour, egg, and breadcrumbs, served with melted butter and anchovy sauce.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 9 ingredients
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Slices of Cod Fish Fried

Why it works: Anchovy and sauce are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,057 recipes. Both carry ethanol, which smells alcoholic, ethereal. The science ↓

Slices of Cod Fish Fried

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Season the cod slices with salt and white pepper or cayenne.

  2. Dredge the slices in flour.

  3. Optionally, dip in beaten egg and then in bread crumbs before frying.

Fry and serve

  1. Fry the slices in hot oil until golden brown on both sides.

  2. Drain on a sieve before serving.

  3. Serve on a heated napkin with crisped parsley around them.

  4. Serve with melted butter and anchovy 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.

Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it

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. Anchovy + saucetop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,057 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  2. Bread + buttertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together27,232 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).

  3. Fish + anchovytop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together637 recipes

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

  4. Fish + breadtop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,668 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-undecenal (sweet).

  5. Bread + anchovytop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,260 recipes

    Shared aroma: hexanol (green, fruity).

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

What each ingredient does

Cod
Forms the main body of the dish, cooking to a flaky, tender texture.
Flour
Dries the fish surface and helps create a golden, crisp coating when fried.
Egg
Binds the bread crumbs to the fish for an extra crisp, even coating.
Fine bread crumbs
Add a crunchy, browned outer layer when fried.
Melted butter
Adds richness and fat that complements the fried coating.

The step that matters

Fry the slices until golden brown on both sides. Hot oil sears the coating quickly, creating a crisp, browned crust before the thick fish overcooks inside. Oil that is not hot enough soaks in and leaves the coating greasy.

Swap the white pepper

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (fish, flour, egg, bread, butter, anchovy, sauce):

  1. Capersfits better
  2. Parsleyfits better
  3. Nutmegfits better
  4. White pepperthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against fish, flour, egg, bread, butter, anchovy, sauce. 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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