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Cod's Roe, Scalloped

A baked dish of boiled cod roe mixed with butter, cream, and breadcrumbs.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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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 ↓

Cod's Roe, Scalloped

Ingredients

Directions

The book gives no oven temperature. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.

Prepare the roe

  1. Wash and wipe the cod's roe.

  2. Boil the roe for 10 minutes in water with salt and vinegar.

  3. Cut the boiled roe into dice.

Assemble

  1. Combine the roe with melted butter or white sauce and cream.

  2. Butter a scallop tin and add the roe mixture.

  3. Cover with brown breadcrumbs.

Bake and serve

  1. Brown in the oven at 400°F (200°C) or serve on hot buttered toast.

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. Butter + creamtop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together41,516 recipes

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

  2. Roe + buttertop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together442 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,6-nonadienal (cucumber, green).

  3. Roe + creamtop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together79 recipes

    Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).

  4. Butter + vinegartop 23% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together13,513 recipes

    Shared aroma: isoamyl acetate (banana, pear).

  5. Roe + vinegartop 25% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together136 recipes

    Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).

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

What each ingredient does

Cod's roe
Forms the main body of the dish and sets to a firm, flaky texture when cooked.
Melted butter or white sauce
Adds moisture and richness, binding the roe together and keeping it from drying out.
Cream
Adds moisture and a softer, smoother texture to the roe mixture.
Brown breadcrumbs
Forms a crisp topping that browns in the oven and adds a contrasting texture.

The step that matters

Boil the roe for 10 minutes in salted, vinegared water. Roe is delicate and its proteins set as they heat, so overcooking makes it tough and dry. The salt and vinegar help firm it so it can be diced cleanly.

“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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