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Scalloped Cod

A baked cod dish served in scallop shells with parsley, anchovy essence, butter, and breadcrumbs.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 ingredients
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Why it works: Pepper and parsley match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 34,122 recipes. Both carry 4'-methylacetophenone, which smells bitter almond. The science ↓

Scalloped Cod

Oven, in the book's wordsA quick oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a quick oven”. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Prepare the filling

  1. Break the cod into small pieces, removing skin and bones.

  2. Season with pepper and salt, then mix in parsley and essence of anchovy.

  3. Moisten with melted butter or stock.

Assemble and bake

  1. Butter scallop or oyster shells and fill with bread-crumbs.

  2. Divide the fish mixture among the shells, cover with more bread-crumbs, and dot with butter.

  3. Bake at 400°F (200°C) for 15 minutes until hot and crumbs are browned.

Serve

  1. Serve on a hot dish garnished with parsley.

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. Pepper + parsleytop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together34,122 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

  2. Butter + breadtop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together27,232 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).

  3. Anchovy + breadtop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,260 recipes

    Shared aroma: hexanol (green, fruity).

  4. Anchovy + buttertop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together3,697 recipes

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

  5. Parsley + anchovytop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,702 recipes

    Shared aroma: linalool (floral, citrus).

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

What each ingredient does

Remains of baked cod
Forms the flaky body of the filling, providing the main substance of the dish.
Melted butter or strong stock
Adds moisture to the fish so the filling stays tender rather than dry when baked.
Bread-crumbs
Form a crisp topping that browns in the oven and helps seal in moisture.
Essence of anchovy
Adds a salty, savoury depth that enhances the flavour of the fish.

The step that matters

Moistening the fish before baking. Cod that has already been cooked dries out easily in the oven. Adding melted butter or stock before baking keeps the flakes moist and tender as the filling heats through.

“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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