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Cod, Hashed

A creamy cod and shrimp hash served over mashed potatoes.

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 ↓

Cod, Hashed

Ingredients

Directions

Make the sauce

  1. In a stewpan, blend the butter and flour, frying for a few minutes without coloring.

  2. Add the milk and stir until boiling.

Make the hash

  1. Flake the cod into small pieces and add it along with the shrimps.

  2. Cook until thoroughly hot, then season carefully.

Serve

  1. Make a deep border of mashed potatoes on a hot dish.

  2. Pour the hash in the center and sprinkle with chopped parsley.

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

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

  5. Milk + potatotop 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

Butter
Enriches the flavour and, with the flour, forms the base of the sauce.
Flour
Thickens the milk into a smooth sauce that holds the fish together.
Milk
Forms the liquid of the sauce, giving it body and a creamy texture.
Cooked cod
Provides the main flaky body of the hash.
Shrimps
Adds sweet, briny flavour and a tender bite to the hash.
Mashed potatoes
Forms the border around the hash, adding soft starchy body to the dish.

The step that matters

Blending the butter and flour without coloring. Frying the roux gently cooks out the raw flour taste without browning it. Browning changes the colour and flavour of the sauce, while undercooked flour leaves a pasty taste.

Swap the parsley

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

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

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