Name: Cod’s Head
Ingredients: 1 cod's head and shoulders; coarse sea salt; shallot vinegar

Why it works: Shallot and vinegar are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 6% of all ingredient pairs, and 2,282 recipes mention both. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓

The recipe

Ingredients

Contains: fish (auto-detected from the ingredients and method; we can miss things, so check labels)

1 cod's head and shoulders
coarse sea salt
shallot vinegar

Directions

Prepare

Prepare the cod's head and shoulders, ensuring it is properly cleaned.
Place the fish on a serving platter.

Cut and season

Cut slices down to the bone.
Sprinkle with coarse sea salt.
Heat shallot vinegar until boiling.
Pour the boiling shallot vinegar over the fish before serving.

Serve

Serve each slice with a piece of the bone underneath.
Serve with a fish trowel.

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 aroma chemistry they share, and how many recipes mention both.

Shallot + vinegartop 6% of all pairs

Aroma overlaplow

Mentioned together2,282 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

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

What each ingredient does

Cod's head and shoulders: Forms the main body of the dish, providing the flesh that is sliced and served.
Shallot vinegar: Adds acidity and sharp aroma that cut through the richness of the fish.

“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.