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Slices of Cod a LA Seville

A dish of cod slices served over fried rice with tomato and onion sauce.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 10 ingredients
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Why it works: Pepper and lemon match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and 27,039 recipes mention both. Both carry 2-nonenal, which smells fatty, green. The science ↓

The recipe

Ingredients

Contains: milk, fish (auto-detected from the ingredients and method; we can miss things, so check labels)

Directions

The book gives no oven temperature. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.

Prepare the rice and cod

  1. Wash and dry the rice.

  2. Fry the rice in salad oil until golden.

  3. Drain the rice on a sieve and place in a large pan.

  4. Fry the cod pieces in salad oil until they are a nice color.

  5. Drain the cod pieces.

  6. Place the cod pieces on the rice.

Make the tomato topping

  1. Fry the onion slices in the oil used for the fish.

  2. Drain the oil.

  3. Simmer the tomatoes and onion together for 5 minutes.

  4. Pour the tomato and onion mixture over the fish and rice.

Bake and serve

  1. Season the dish with cayenne pepper, coarse sea salt, and lemon juice.

  2. Moisten with broth.

  3. Cover the dish with buttered paper and a lid.

  4. Bake in a 350°F (175°C) oven for about 30 minutes.

  5. Remove the cod from the rice.

  6. Stir the rice over heat to mix in the seasoning.

  7. Serve the rice on a silver dish with the cod on top.

  8. Sauce with Muscle 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.

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much aroma chemistry they share, and how many recipes mention both.

  1. Pepper + lemontop 2% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together27,039 recipes

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

  2. Rice + tomatotop 3% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together2,990 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans,trans-2,4-nonadienal (fatty, green).

  3. Tomato + peppertop 4% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together17,913 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  4. Onion + tomatotop 4% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together20,622 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  5. Rice + oniontop 5% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together9,990 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

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

What each ingredient does

Carolina rice
Forms the base, absorbing broth and tomato juices as it bakes into a tender bed.
Cod
Firm white fish that flakes gently and stays moist when finished under cover.
Tomatoes
Provide acidity and moisture that flavour the rice and keep the dish from drying out.
Spanish onion
Adds sweetness and depth when softened and fried in the fish oil.
Broth
Adds savoury flavour and moisture so the rice can cook through in the oven.

The step that matters

Fry the cod until golden, then drain it well. Frying gives the fish a browned crust and flavour, but excess oil left on it makes the dish greasy. Draining and transferring the cod gently keeps the pieces intact for baking.

Flavor stand-ins for the onion

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (rice, tomato, pepper, lemon, butter):

  1. Capsicumbetter flavor fit
  2. Potatobetter flavor fit
  3. Carrotbetter flavor fit
  4. Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against rice, tomato, pepper, lemon, butter. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes. This compares flavor only: it does not check the job the ingredient does in the dish (bulk, moisture, acidity, structure).

“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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