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Slices of Cod Fish Fried

Fried slices of cod fish seasoned with salt, pepper, flour, and optionally beaten egg and breadcrumbs, served with melted butter and anchovy sauce.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 9 ingredients
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Slices of Cod Fish Fried

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 ↓

Slices of Cod Fish Fried

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Cut the cod fish into slices nearly 1 inch thick.

  2. Season the slices with coarse sea salt and white pepper or cayenne.

  3. Flour the slices well.

  4. Alternatively, dip the slices in beaten egg, then in fine bread crumbs mixed with salt and pepper before frying.

Fry and serve

  1. Fry the slices until they are a clear, even brown on both sides.

  2. Drain the fried slices on a sieve before the fire.

  3. Serve on a well-heated napkin with plenty of crisped parsley around them.

  4. Serve with melted butter and anchovy sauce.

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.

Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it

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. Bread + buttertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together27,232 recipes

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

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

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

  4. Fish + breadtop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,668 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-undecenal (sweet).

  5. Bread + anchovytop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,260 recipes

    Shared aroma: hexanol (green, fruity).

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

What each ingredient does

Cod fish
Forms the main body of the dish, cooking to a flaky, tender texture inside a browned exterior.
Flour
Coats the slices so they brown evenly and form a dry crust when fried.
Beaten egg
Binds the bread crumbs to the fish so the coating stays in place while frying.
Fine bread crumbs
Forms a crisp, golden coating when fried, adding crunch and browning.
Melted butter
Adds richness and fat that complements the fried fish when served.

The step that matters

Fry the slices until clear, even brown on both sides. Fish is lean and cooks quickly, so overcooking dries it out while underheating leaves the flour or crumb coating pale and soggy. Even browning on both sides depends on steady heat and turning the slices once the first side has set.

Swap the white pepper

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

  1. Capersfits better
  2. Parsleyfits better
  3. Nutmegfits better
  4. White pepperthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against fish, flour, egg, bread, butter, anchovy, sauce. 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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