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Cod Roe and Cod River

A dish of cod roe and cod liver seasoned with salt, pepper, and butter.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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Why it works: Roe and egg work together. They rank in the top 14% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 243 recipes. Both carry (e)-2-octenal, which smells fatty, green. The science ↓

Cod Roe and Cod River

Ingredients

Directions

The book gives no oven temperature. The 300°F (150°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.

Prepare the roe

  1. Cut open the skin surrounding the cod liver and roe.

  2. Place the roe in a basin, cover with water, and mash to separate the eggs.

  3. Discard the water and add the salt and pepper.

  4. Let soak overnight, then rinse well in 2-3 waters, leaving some water at the bottom.

Cook

  1. Cut the cod liver into 6-8 pieces and place over the roe.

  2. Cook on a very low fire or in an oven at 300°F (150°C) for 1 hour.

  3. Remove the cod liver.

  4. Add melted butter to the roe before serving.

Serve

  1. Serve as usual.

  2. For a variation, add 4 chopped hard-boiled eggs or 3 raw eggs to the mixture to make a pudding.

  3. Steam until set.

  4. Serve with fish sauce.

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 their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.

  1. Roe + eggtop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together243 recipes

    Shared aroma: (e)-2-octenal (fatty, green).

  2. Roe + buttertop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together442 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,6-nonadienal (cucumber, green).

  3. Butter + eggtop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together118,967 recipes

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

  4. Liver + roetop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together69 recipes

    Shared aroma: eugenol (clove, spicy).

  5. Liver + buttertop 19% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,065 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

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

What each ingredient does

Cod roe
Forms the main body of the dish, setting into a soft, rich mass when cooked.
Cod liver
Adds richness and a soft, fatty texture as it cooks gently over the roe.
Melted butter
Adds fat and a silky moistness to the cooked roe just before serving.
Hard-boiled eggs
In the optional variation, they add body and help the mixture set into a pudding.

The step that matters

Cooking on a very low fire or low oven heat. Roe is an egg protein mass that becomes rubbery and grainy if heated too fast or too hot. Gentle, low heat lets it set evenly and stay tender.

“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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