Why it works: Butter and milk 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 ↓
Baked Codfish
Ingredients
Directions
The book gives no oven temperature. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.
Prepare
Soak, boil, and pick the codfish.
Mix the fish with mashed or chopped potatoes, 3 tablespoons of butter, and warm milk until soft.
Transfer the mixture to a buttered dish.
Bake and serve
Rub the top with the remaining butter and sprinkle with sifted flour.
Bake at 400°F (200°C) for about 30 minutes until golden brown.
Serve with a sauce made from drawn butter and sliced hard-boiled eggs.
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 + milktop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together81,283 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
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Potato + milktop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together3,611 recipes
Shared aroma: (e,z)-2,6-nonadienal (cucumber, melon).
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Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Potato + buttertop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together6,456 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
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Milk + flourtop 14% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together78,219 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Butter and flour barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 124,287 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
- Codfish
- Forms the main body of the dish, providing savory flavor and a flaky texture.
- Potatoes
- Bind the fish and add moisture and body to the mixture.
- Butter
- Adds richness and helps the top brown golden in the oven.
- Milk
- Adds moisture so the mixture stays soft and spreadable.
- Flour
- Dusted on top, it helps the surface brown and form a light crust.
- Eggs
- Sliced for the sauce, adding richness and texture to the serving.
The step that matters
Soften the mixture before baking. The fish, potatoes, butter and milk must be mixed until evenly soft; lumps or dry pockets bake unevenly and leave a crumbly texture rather than a cohesive, moist bake.
Swap the potato
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (butter, milk, flour, egg):
- Chivefits about as well
- Potatothe original
- Leekfits about as well
- Asparagusfits about as well
Fit is the average pairing score against butter, milk, flour, egg. 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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