Skip to main content
Main

Salt Codfish Hash

A hash of soaked codfish, boiled potatoes, butter, milk, egg, and salt, cooked in a shallow kettle.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
Jump to recipe ↓

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 ↓

Salt Codfish Hash

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the cod

  1. Soak the cod in plenty of water for 2 hours, skin side up.

  2. Place the cod in cold water over the fire and bring to a boil.

  3. Remove the cod, take off the skin, and pick out all the bones.

Make the hash

  1. Mash the drained boiled potatoes until smooth.

  2. Combine the mashed potatoes with the cod, adding butter, milk, and salt if needed.

  3. Work the mixture until light.

  4. Fold in the beaten egg.

  5. Cook in a shallow, hot kettle until heated through.

  6. Serve 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. Butter + milktop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together81,283 recipes

    Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).

  2. Potato + milktop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together3,611 recipes

    Shared aroma: (e,z)-2,6-nonadienal (cucumber, melon).

  3. Fish + buttertop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,488 recipes

    Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).

  4. Fish + milktop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,432 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4-heptenal (creamy, biscuit).

  5. Potato + buttertop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together6,456 recipes

    Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).

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

What each ingredient does

Cod
Provides the main flesh and flavor of the hash once soaked and boiled.
Potatoes
Bind with the fish and give the hash its soft, mashed body.
Butter
Adds richness and fat, softening the mixture and adding flavor.
Milk
Adds moisture, keeping the mashed mixture soft and smooth.
Egg
Binds the mixture and helps it set as it heats.

The step that matters

Work the mixture until light. Beating the mashed potato and fish until airy incorporates air and makes the hash lighter; overworking can make it gluey, so stop once it looks fluffy.

“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.

You might also like

Potato CroquettesPotato Croquettes255 recipesFried FishFried Fish120 recipesFish CroquettesFish Croquettes81 recipesPotato RollsPotato Rolls78 recipes