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 ↓
Cod a LA Bechamel
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 sauce
Clean the cod, removing the head and tail to make fish stock.
Prepare 1 pint of béchamel sauce using the fish stock and finish with sour cream.
Bake the cod
Season the cod with salt, pepper, and nutmeg, and place it in a silver dish.
Pour the béchamel sauce over the cod.
Place the dish in a baking tin of boiling water.
Cook in a 300 °F (150 °C) oven, basting frequently until done.
Finish and serve
Brown the top with a salamander.
Arrange cooked potatoes around the cod.
Sprinkle with minced parsley and serve immediately.
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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Pepper + parsleytop 2% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together34,122 recipes
Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
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Nutmeg + parsleytop 3% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together5,062 recipes
Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
-
Potato + parsleytop 5% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together2,855 recipes
Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
-
Pepper + nutmegtop 7% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together13,015 recipes
Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
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Nutmeg + potatotop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,052 recipes
Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
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, cooking gently to become flaky and tender.
- Béchamel sauce
- Adds a creamy, moist coating that keeps the fish from drying out in the oven.
- Fish stock
- Provides the savoury fish flavour for the béchamel base.
- Sour cream
- Adds tang and richness to the finished sauce.
- Potatoes
- Provide a starchy side that soaks up the sauce.
The step that matters
Basting in the water bath. Cod is lean and cooks quickly, so it can dry out or turn rubbery if overheated. Keeping the dish in gently simmering water-bath heat and basting frequently keeps the fish moist while it sets.
Swap the parsley
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (pepper, nutmeg, fish, sauce, cream, potato, milk):
- Cinnamonfits about as well
- Parsleythe original
- Tarragonfits about as well
- Celeryfits about as well
Fit is the average pairing score against pepper, nutmeg, fish, sauce, cream, potato, milk. 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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