Why it works: Lemon and parsley match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 14,037 recipes. Both carry beta-phellandrene, which smells minty, terpene. The science ↓
Boiled Cod
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Rub a little coarse sea salt over the cod half an hour before cooking.
Poach and serve
Place the cod in a fish kettle and cover it with warm water.
Squeeze a little lemon juice into the water.
Simmer gently for 10 minutes per pound until done.
Dish up on a folded napkin and garnish with parsley.
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.
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Lemon + parsleytop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together14,037 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).
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 and turns flaky and opaque as it cooks through.
- Lemon juice
- Adds a bright acidity that lifts the mild flavour of the fish.
The step that matters
Simmer gently for 10 minutes per pound until done. Boiling vigorously toughens and breaks up delicate fish muscle, while gentle simmering cooks it evenly and keeps it moist and 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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