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Cod or Salmon Cutlets

A dish of cod or salmon cutlets made with boiled fish, potatoes, butter, spices, egg, and bread crumbs, then fried.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 9 ingredients
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Why it works: Anchovy and sauce are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,057 recipes. Both carry ethanol, which smells alcoholic, ethereal. The science ↓

Cod or Salmon Cutlets

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the mixture

  1. In a mortar, combine the cold boiled fish, cold potatoes, butter, pepper, coarse sea salt, mace, and anchovy sauce.

  2. Pound the mixture thoroughly until well beaten.

Shape and coat

  1. Shape the mixture into small cutlets.

  2. Dip each cutlet in beaten egg, then coat with bread crumbs.

Fry

  1. Fry the cutlets in hot oil until they are light brown in color.

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. Anchovy + saucetop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,057 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  2. Fish + anchovytop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together637 recipes

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

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

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

  4. Fish + buttertop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,488 recipes

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

  5. Anchovy + eggtop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,330 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

Cold boiled fish
Forms the main body of the cutlets and gives them their flavour.
Cold potatoes
Adds starch and bulk that help the mixture bind and hold its shape.
Butter
Adds richness and moisture to the mixture.
Egg
Binds the coating so the bread crumbs adhere to the cutlet.
Bread crumbs
Forms a crisp, golden-brown crust when fried.

The step that matters

Pound the mixture thoroughly. Thorough pounding breaks down the fish and potato into a smooth, cohesive paste. A well-mixed paste holds its shape better during shaping and frying, so the cutlets are less likely to crumble.

Swap the mace

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (fish, potato, butter, pepper, anchovy, sauce, egg):

  1. Capersfits better
  2. Parsleyfits better
  3. Tarragonfits better
  4. Macethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against fish, potato, butter, pepper, anchovy, sauce, egg. 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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