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To Boil Cods Sounds

Boiled cod heads served with egg sauce and melted butter.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 5 ingredients
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Why it works: Milk and butter are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 81,283 recipes. Both carry (z)-4-heptenal, which smells biscuit, cream. The science ↓

To Boil Cods Sounds

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. If cod heads are highly salted, soak them overnight.

  2. Rub off the discolored skin and wash them well.

  3. Place them in a mixture of cold milk and water.

Cook and serve

  1. Boil gently for 30 to 40 minutes, or until tender.

  2. Skim off any scum that rises to the surface.

  3. Drain well and serve on a napkin with egg sauce and melted butter.

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. Milk + buttertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together81,283 recipes

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

  2. Sauce + buttertop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together15,338 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  3. Egg + buttertop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together118,967 recipes

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

  4. Milk + eggtop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together88,785 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

  5. Milk + saucetop 29% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together3,759 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

Sauce and butter barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 15,338 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

Cod sounds
Forms the main body of the dish, becoming tender and flaky when gently boiled.
Cold milk
Mixed with water to make the poaching liquid, adding a mild, creamy richness to the fish.
Egg sauce
Adds richness and a smooth, creamy contrast to the mild boiled fish.
Melted butter
Adds fat and richness, carrying flavor over the cooked fish.

The step that matters

Skim off any scum that rises to the surface. Proteins and impurities released during boiling form scum that can cloud the liquid and taint the flavor. Removing it keeps the fish clean-tasting and the broth clear.

“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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