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Stewed Cod

A cod stew with veal gravy, bread crumbs, spices, anchovy essence, wine, and lemon.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 10 ingredients
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Why it works: Fish and bread are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 10% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,668 recipes. Both carry 2-undecenal, which smells sweet. The science ↓

Stewed Cod

Ingredients

Directions

Poach the cod

  1. Bring a pot of salted water to a boil.

  2. Add the cod slices and boil gently for 5 minutes.

  3. Lift out the cod and let it drain.

Make the sauce

  1. In a wide stewpan, heat the veal gravy or broth.

  2. Add the fish and stew for 5 minutes.

  3. Stir in the bread crumbs and simmer for 3 more minutes.

  4. Mix the arrow-root with the sauce.

  5. Add mace, cayenne, essence of anchovies, white wine, and lemon juice, then boil for 2 minutes.

  6. Carefully lift out the fish and pour the sauce over it.

  7. Serve immediately.

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. Fish + breadtop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,668 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-undecenal (sweet).

  2. White wine + lemontop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together3,832 recipes

    Shared aroma: myrcene (balsamic, herbaceous).

  3. Fish + white winetop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together370 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,3-pentanedione (butter, sweet).

  4. Fish + lemontop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together1,889 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

  5. Mace + white winetop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together1,329 recipes

    Shared aroma: myrcene (balsamic, herbaceous).

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 tender and flaky as it cooks gently.
Veal gravy or broth
Provides the liquid base of the sauce and carries its savory flavor.
Bread crumbs
Help thicken the sauce as they soak up and hold the cooking liquid.
Arrow-root
Thickens the sauce to a smooth, glossy consistency when boiled.
Essence of anchovies
Adds a salty, savory depth to the sauce.
White wine
Adds acidity and aroma that brighten the rich sauce.

The step that matters

Boiling the arrow-root sauce. Starch must be mixed in evenly and boiled so it thickens; if it clumps or is undercooked, the sauce stays thin or gritty.

Swap the mace

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (fish, veal, bread, white wine, lemon):

  1. Marjoramfits better
  2. Parsleyfits better
  3. Thymefits better
  4. Macethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against fish, veal, bread, white wine, lemon. 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.

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