Why it works: Pepper and lemon match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 3% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 27,047 recipes. Both carry trans-2-nonenal, which smells cardboard, fatty. The science ↓
Stewed Cod
Ingredients
Directions
Poach the cod
Bring a pot of salted water to a boil.
Add the cod slices to the boiling water.
Boil gently for 5 minutes.
Remove the fish and let it drain.
Make the sauce
In a wide stewpan, heat the veal gravy or broth.
Add the fish to the stewpan.
Stew for 5 minutes.
Stir in the bread crumbs.
Simmer for 3 more minutes.
Mix the arrowroot with the sauce until smooth.
Add the mace, cayenne pepper, essence of anchovies, white wine, and lemon juice.
Boil for 2 minutes.
Serve
Carefully lift out the fish.
Pour the sauce over the fish.
Serve immediately.
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.
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Pepper + lemontop 3% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together27,047 recipes
Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).
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Arrowroot + lemontop 4% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together553 recipes
Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).
-
Fish + breadtop 10% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,668 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-undecenal (sweet).
-
White wine + lemontop 11% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together3,832 recipes
Shared aroma: myrcene (balsamic, herbaceous).
-
Fish + white winetop 14% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together370 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,3-pentanedione (butter, sweet).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Cod
- Forms the main body of the dish, flaking into tender pieces as it stews in the sauce.
- Veal gravy or strong broth
- Provides the savory liquid base that the whole sauce is built on.
- Fine bread crumbs
- Thicken the sauce slightly and give it body as they absorb liquid.
- Arrowroot
- Thickens the sauce to a smooth, glossy consistency without clouding it.
- Essence of anchovies
- Adds a salty, deep savory flavor to the sauce.
- White wine
- Adds acidity and aroma that brighten the rich sauce.
The step that matters
Mix the arrowroot with the sauce until smooth. Arrowroot clumps if added dry or unmixed, leaving lumps in the sauce. Blending it smoothly into the liquid first lets its starch disperse evenly, so it thickens the sauce uniformly when heated.
Swap the mace
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (fish, veal, bread, arrowroot, pepper, white wine, lemon):
- Parsleyfits better
- Marjoramfits better
- Thymefits better
- Macethe original
Fit is the average pairing score against fish, veal, bread, arrowroot, pepper, white wine, lemon. 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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