Name: To Dress a Cod’s Head and Shoulders with a White Sauce
Ingredients: 3 pounds veal; 2 onions, chopped; 1 carrot, chopped; 1 turnip, chopped; 3 pints water; 1 Cod's head and shoulders, cleaned; ½ pint common vinegar; 1 handful coarse sea salt; 2 egg yolks; ½ cup bread crumbs; 2 tablespoons minced parsley; a little pepper; a little salt; zest of 1 lemon; ½ pound butter; ½ pint white wine; ½ cup oysters, with their liquor; juice of 1 lemon; a little white pepper; meat of 1 boiled lobster, chopped

Why it works: Carrot and parsley match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 8,053 recipes. Both carry 2,4-decadienal, which smells seaweed. The science ↓

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.

Carrot + parsleytop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together8,053 recipes

Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
Carrot + turniptop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together8,002 recipes

Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).
Turnip + parsleytop 2% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together2,842 recipes

Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).
Onion + turniptop 5% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together7,585 recipes

Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).
Onion + carrottop 6% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together21,601 recipes

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

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

What each ingredient does

Egg yolks: Glaze the fish, giving it a golden sheen and a richer surface as it bakes.
Butter: Adds richness and fat, and helps the crumb coating brown and the sauce turn silky.
Oysters: Contribute briny, savoury flavour to the sauce along with their liquor.
White wine: Adds acidity and aroma to the sauce, brightening its flavour.
Bread crumbs: Form a crust on the fish that helps it brown and hold moisture in the oven.

The step that matters

Place the fish in the boiling water for 30 minutes. Holding the fish at a steady simmer rather than a hard rolling boil cooks it gently, so the flesh stays moist and does not break apart.

Swap the onion

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (veal, carrot, turnip, vinegar, egg, bread, parsley):

Leekfits better
Shallotfits better
Parsnipfits better
Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against veal, carrot, turnip, vinegar, egg, bread, parsley. 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.

To Dress a Cod’s Head and Shoulders with a White Sauce