Why it works: Pepper and parsley match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 34,122 recipes. Both carry 4'-methylacetophenone, which smells bitter almond. The science ↓
Codfish in Cream
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the codfish
Shred the salted codfish.
Soak the shredded codfish overnight.
Drain the soaked codfish.
Place the drained codfish in a stewpan.
Cover the codfish with cold water.
Bring the water to a boil.
Drain the codfish again.
Cover the codfish with water.
Simmer gently for 15 minutes.
Make the cream
Add the rich milk to the codfish.
Rub the flour smooth in the butter.
Add the butter and flour mixture to the codfish.
Mince the hard-boiled egg.
Stir the minced egg into the mixture.
Add pepper and minced parsley.
Boil the mixture once before serving.
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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Pepper + parsleytop 2% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together34,122 recipes
Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
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Milk + buttertop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together81,283 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
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Flour + buttertop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Flour + parsleytop 12% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together16,675 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Milk + flourtop 14% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together78,219 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Flour and butter 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
- Salted codfish
- Provides the main flavor and body of the dish after soaking removes excess salt.
- Rich milk
- Forms the cream base, giving the dish its smooth, rich texture.
- Flour
- Thickens the milk into a smooth sauce when cooked with the butter.
- Butter
- Adds fat and richness, and helps the flour blend smoothly into the sauce.
- Hard-boiled egg
- Adds body and a mild, creamy richness to the finished sauce.
The step that matters
Rub the flour smooth in the butter. Flour clumps if added to hot liquid without first being blended with fat. Working it smooth into the butter before adding it lets it disperse evenly, so the sauce thickens without lumps.
Swap the parsley
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (milk, flour, butter, egg, pepper):
- Nutmegfits about as well
- Cinnamonfits about as well
- Parsleythe original
- Cardamomfits about as well
Fit is the average pairing score against milk, flour, butter, egg, pepper. 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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