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 ↓
Salt Cod
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the cod
Soak the salt cod in water overnight with vinegar to reduce saltiness.
Boil the cod until cooked through.
Flake the cod into a serving dish.
Serve
Pour egg sauce or mashed parsnips mixed with butter and cream over the cod.
Serve immediately to prevent cooling.
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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Butter + creamtop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together41,516 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
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Egg + buttertop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together118,967 recipes
Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).
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Vinegar + buttertop 23% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together13,513 recipes
Shared aroma: isoamyl acetate (banana, pear).
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Egg + creamtop 24% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together42,166 recipes
Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).
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Vinegar + creamtop 25% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together4,064 recipes
Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).
Egg and cream barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 42,166 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
- Salt cod
- Forms the main body of the dish, flaked into tender pieces after cooking.
- Vinegar
- Helps reduce the saltiness of the cod during soaking.
- Butter
- Adds richness and a smooth, silky texture to the topping.
- Cream
- Adds moisture and richness to the sauce or mashed parsnips.
The step that matters
Soaking the salt cod. Salt cod is heavily cured, so it must soak long enough to draw out excess salt. Soaking too briefly leaves the fish overly salty, and the flavour of the finished dish suffers.
“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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