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Cod Fish a LA Mode

A baked cod fish mixture with mashed potatoes, cream, eggs, and butter.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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Why it works: Cream and butter are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 8% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 41,516 recipes. Both carry delta-dodecalactone, which smells sweet, creamy. The science ↓

Cod Fish a LA Mode

Ingredients

Directions

The book gives no oven temperature. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.

Prepare

  1. Freshen the minced codfish and drain well, or use desiccated cod.

  2. Blend the cod with mashed potatoes and cream or milk.

  3. Add the beaten eggs, melted butter, pepper, and salt; mix lightly.

Bake and serve

  1. Bake in a casserole or baking dish at 350°F (175°C) for 25 minutes.

  2. 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. Cream + buttertop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together41,516 recipes

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

  2. Potato + peppertop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together8,305 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  3. Potato + buttertop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together6,456 recipes

    Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).

  4. Potato + creamtop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together2,481 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-one (mushroom, metallic).

  5. Egg + buttertop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together118,967 recipes

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

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

What each ingredient does

Codfish
Provides the main flavour and the flaked fish body of the dish.
Mashed potatoes
Adds bulk and a soft, creamy texture that holds the fish together.
Cream or milk
Adds moisture and richness, keeping the mixture tender as it bakes.
Eggs
Bind the mixture and set when baked, giving it a firm, sliceable structure.
Melted butter
Adds fat for richness and helps the surface brown lightly in the oven.

The step that matters

Mix lightly after adding the eggs. Overworking the mixture once the eggs go in can make the texture dense and tough. Gentle mixing keeps the custard-like body light while the eggs set in the oven.

Swap the potato

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (cream, egg, butter, pepper):

  1. Potatothe original
  2. Spinachfits about as well
  3. Asparagusfits about as well
  4. Capsicumfits about as well

Fit is the average pairing score against cream, egg, butter, pepper. 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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