Why it works: Milk and butter are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 81,283 recipes. Both carry (z)-4-heptenal, which smells biscuit, cream. The science ↓
Cod with Butter
Ingredients
Directions
The book says “a moderately hot oven”. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.
Prepare the cod
Prepare the cod as directed in the preceding recipe.
Cover the cod with equal parts milk and water.
Add salt, pepper, and mace to the mixture.
Simmer gently for about 20 minutes until three-quarters cooked.
Drain the cod and reserve the liquid.
Cut the cod into large dice.
Make the sauce
Melt the butter in a small saucepan.
Stir in the flour.
Strain the reserved liquid into the saucepan.
Season the sauce to taste.
Let the sauce boil gently for 2–3 minutes while stirring.
Add the prepared cod dice to the sauce.
Set the mixture aside to cool.
Assemble and bake
Line deep patty pans with pastry.
Fill the pastry-lined pans with the mixture, piling it high.
Cover the mixture with pastry.
Brush the top pastry with beaten egg.
Bake at 400 °F (200 °C) for about 20 minutes.
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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Milk + buttertop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together81,283 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
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Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Milk + flourtop 14% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together78,219 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Flour + eggtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together106,462 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Pepper + macetop 16% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together12,257 recipes
Shared aroma: myristicin (spice, warm).
Butter and flour barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 124,287 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Cod
- Forms the main filling, providing flaky texture and the dish's body.
- Butter
- Enriches the sauce with fat and rich flavor while helping form its base.
- Flour
- Thickens the reserved liquid with melted butter into a smooth sauce that holds the filling together.
- Egg
- Brushed on top, it promotes browning and a glossy finish on the pastry.
The step that matters
Let the sauce boil gently while stirring. Flour must be cooked briefly in hot fat and liquid so it thickens fully and loses its raw starchy taste; stirring prevents lumps and scorching on the pan bottom.
Swap the mace
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (milk, pepper, butter, flour, egg):
- Nutmegfits better
- Cinnamonfits better
- Parsleyfits better
- Macethe original
Fit is the average pairing score against milk, pepper, butter, flour, egg. 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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