Why it works: Pepper and lemon match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 3% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 27,047 recipes. Both carry trans-2-nonenal, which smells cardboard, fatty. The science ↓
Cod Steaks
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Wash and thoroughly dry the cod.
Mix the flour, salt, and pepper, then coat the fish completely with the mixture.
Heat a good layer of oil in a frying pan.
Cook and serve
Fry the fish until crisp and well browned on both sides.
Meanwhile, melt the butter and mix in the lemon juice.
Serve the fish with the oiled butter, optionally adding finely chopped parsley.
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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Pepper + lemontop 3% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together27,047 recipes
Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).
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Flour + buttertop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Butter + lemontop 16% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together41,227 recipes
Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).
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Flour + lemontop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together30,404 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Flour + peppertop 19% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together50,459 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Flour and butter 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 body of the dish, cooking to a flaky texture.
- Flour
- Coats the fish, helping it brown and form a crisp surface when fried.
- Butter
- Adds richness and flavour to the serving sauce.
- Lemon juice
- Adds acidity that brightens the buttery sauce.
The step that matters
Fry until crisp and well browned on both sides. The fish must be thoroughly dry before coating and the oil must be hot. Moisture on the surface steams rather than browns, so the coating turns soggy instead of crisp and golden.
“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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