Name: Cod Au Blanc
Ingredients: 1 fine cod; coarse sea salt; butter; a little flour; pepper; cream; nutmeg (optional); mace (optional)

Why it works: Nutmeg and mace are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 4% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 6,557 recipes. Both carry myristicin, which smells spice, warm. The science ↓

Cod Au Blanc

Ingredients

Directions

Salt the cod

Sprinkle salt over the cod and let it sit for 1–2 days.

Poach the cod

Place the cod in a fish kettle filled with cold water.
Bring the water to a boil, then cover the kettle and let it sit for 10–15 minutes.
Drain the cod and melt butter in a saucepan.

Make the sauce and serve

Add flour, pepper, and cream to the melted butter.
Serve the hot cod on a dish and pour the sauce over it.
For dressed cod, warm the slices in the sauce before serving.

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.

Nutmeg + macetop 4% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together6,557 recipes

Shared aroma: myristicin (spice, warm).
Pepper + nutmegtop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together13,015 recipes

Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
Butter + creamtop 8% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together41,516 recipes

Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
Flour + nutmegtop 8% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together18,623 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together124,287 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

Butter and flour 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, becoming flaky and tender when gently poached.
Butter: Adds richness and fat to the sauce, carrying flavour and giving it a smooth body.
Flour: Thickens the melted butter into a roux that gives the sauce body.
Cream: Adds moisture and richness, giving the sauce a smooth, creamy texture.

The step that matters

Bringing the water to a boil, then letting the cod sit covered. The cod is cooked by residual heat in the covered kettle rather than a rolling boil. Too much heat toughens and dries the fish, which is why it should rest off the heat for 10–15 minutes.

“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.