Why it works: Pepper and lemon match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and 27,039 recipes mention both. Both carry 2-nonenal, which smells fatty, green. The science ↓
The recipe
Ingredients
Contains: milk, wheat, fish (auto-detected from the ingredients and method; we can miss things, so check labels)
Directions
The book gives no oven temperature. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.
Make the sauce
Melt the butter in a stewpan and fry the onions until golden brown.
Stir in the flour and add the boiling water, mixing until smooth.
Assemble and bake
Add the soaked cod sounds, season with pepper, white wine, essence of anchovy, and lemon juice, then mix well and transfer to a pie dish.
Cover with pie crust and bake at 350°F (175°C) for one hour.
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 aroma chemistry they share, and how many recipes mention both.
-
Pepper + lemontop 2% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together27,039 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
-
Butter + white winetop 3% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together5,039 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).
-
White wine + lemontop 4% of all pairsAroma overlapmoderateMentioned together3,764 recipes
Shared aroma: myrcene (balsamic, herbaceous).
-
Onion + white winetop 5% of all pairsAroma overlapmoderateMentioned together4,426 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
-
Onion + anchovytop 6% of all pairsAroma overlaplowMentioned together1,244 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-methylbutyraldehyde (malty, chocolate).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Cod sounds
- Provide the main fish filling, which becomes tender and flaky as it cooks in the sauce.
- Butter
- Adds richness and carries the flavour of the frying onions.
- Onions
- Soften and turn golden, adding sweetness and savoury depth to the sauce.
- Flour
- Thickens the boiling water into a smooth sauce that holds the filling together.
- White wine
- Adds acidity and aroma that brighten the rich fish and butter.
- Essence of anchovy
- Adds a concentrated salty, savoury depth to the sauce.
The step that matters
Stir the flour into the boiling water until smooth. Adding flour to liquid without stirring lets it clump into lumps. Mixing it smoothly lets the starch disperse evenly, so the sauce thickens uniformly around the fish.
Flavor stand-ins for the onion
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (butter, flour, pepper, white wine, anchovy, lemon):
- Capsicumbetter flavor fit
- Shallotbetter flavor fit
- Potatobetter flavor fit
- Onionthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against butter, flour, pepper, white wine, anchovy, lemon. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes. This compares flavor only: it does not check the job the ingredient does in the dish (bulk, moisture, acidity, structure).
“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.
You might also like
Illustration
Illustration
Illustration
IllustrationThe Sunday pairing: one pairing, the chemistry behind it, and how to cook it. No spam, unsubscribe anytime.
Prefer an account? Create a free account for sign-in; Pro adds the full results and chemistry.