Why it works: Butter and cream 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 ↓
Creamed Codfish
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the cod
Soak the codfish overnight.
In the morning, pick it into pieces and pour boiling water over it.
Let it stand until it tastes fresh.
Cook and thicken
Cook the codfish in enough water to cover until done.
Add the butter.
Mix flour and cream to make a thickening.
Pour the mixture into the codfish and stir until well cooked.
Serve
Serve on toast or plain.
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.
-
Butter + creamtop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together41,516 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
-
Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
-
Flour + creamtop 20% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together30,481 recipes
Shared aroma: acetaldehyde (pungent, ethereal).
Butter and flour barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 124,287 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Codfish
- Provides the main body and flavour of the dish, flaked into pieces.
- Butter
- Adds richness and a smooth, rounded flavour to the finished dish.
- Flour
- Thickens the cream into a sauce that coats the fish.
- Cream
- Adds moisture and richness, forming a creamy sauce when combined with flour.
The step that matters
Pour the mixture into the codfish and stir until well cooked. Flour mixed with cream must be stirred while heating so the starch swells and thickens evenly; adding it without stirring can leave lumps and a thin, uneven sauce.
“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.
You might also like
Tomato Soup526 recipes
Brown Bread461 recipes
Mutton Broth292 recipes
Yorkshire Pudding264 recipesThe free Flavor Lab newsletter: one surprising pairing a week and the molecular reason it works, in 60 seconds. No spam, unsubscribe anytime.
Prefer an account? Create a free account to save pairings and unlock the full chemistry.