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Fried Cod and Oysters

A dish of cod fillets and oysters coated in seasoned flour and fried until golden.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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Why it works: Flour and pepper are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 19% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 50,459 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓

Fried Cod and Oysters

Ingredients

Directions

The book gives no cooking times; the times in the steps were added in transcription, so check for doneness rather than trusting the clock.

Prepare

  1. Rinse the cod fillets and pat dry.

  2. Season the flour with salt and pepper.

  3. Dredge the cod fillets in the seasoned flour.

  4. Remove the gills from the oysters and rinse them.

Fry and serve

  1. Heat oil in a frying pan over medium heat.

  2. Fry the cod fillets until golden brown, about 4-5 minutes per side.

  3. Fry the oysters in the same oil until golden, about 2-3 minutes.

  4. Serve the fried cod and oysters hot.

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. Flour + peppertop 19% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together50,459 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  2. Oyster + peppertop 22% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together7,663 recipes

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

  3. Oyster + flourtop 25% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,582 recipes

    Shared aroma: hexanal (grass, green).

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

What each ingredient does

Cod fillets
Forms the main body of the dish, cooking through while the flour coating browns.
Oysters
Adds a briny, rich flavour and a tender interior contrasted with a crisp coating.
Flour
Forms a dry coating that browns and crisps in the hot oil.

The step that matters

Fry the cod fillets until golden brown. Oil that is hot enough sets the flour coating quickly so it crisps rather than absorbing oil. Fillets that are patted dry before dredging also brown better and do not steam in the pan.

“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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