Why it works: Oyster and sauce are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 14% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,233 recipes. Both carry ethanol, which smells alcoholic, ethereal. The science ↓
Crimped Cod and Oyster Sauce
Ingredients
Directions
Poach the fish
Place the cod and liver in a fish kettle and boil for about 10 minutes.
Drain the fish and liver.
Serve
Serve on a napkin, garnished with parsley.
Serve the Oyster Sauce in a separate boat.
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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Oyster + saucetop 14% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together2,233 recipes
Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
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Liver + oystertop 17% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together179 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Liver + parsleytop 17% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together1,095 recipes
Shared aroma: alpha-pinene (pine, turpentine).
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Parsley + oystertop 22% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together2,211 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
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Parsley + saucetop 23% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together6,693 recipes
Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Crimped cod
- Forms the main flesh of the dish, cooking into flaky, tender pieces.
- Liver
- Adds richness and a soft, creamy texture to the dish.
- Oyster sauce
- Supplies savoury, salty flavour to the plainly cooked fish and liver.
The step that matters
Boil for about 10 minutes. Boiling too long toughens fish protein and makes it dry and flaky in the wrong way, while too short leaves the centre underdone. Watching the time keeps the cod moist and fully cooked.
Swap the parsley
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (liver, oyster, sauce):
- Capersfits better
- Parsleythe original
- Sagefits about as well
- Celeryfits about as well
Fit is the average pairing score against liver, oyster, 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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