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Cod a LA Provencale

A cod fillet simmered in a rich white sauce with shallots, anchovy paste, capers, and herbs.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 12 ingredients
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Why it works: Shallot and capers match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and 398 recipes mention both. Both carry coumarin, which smells sweet, hay. The science ↓

The recipe

Ingredients

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

Directions

Prepare the fish

  1. Wash and wipe the fish well.

  2. Place the fish in a stewpan.

  3. Season the fish with pepper and coarse sea salt.

  4. Add Velouté sauce.

  5. Add white stock.

  6. Add chopped shallots.

  7. Add bouquet-garni.

  8. Simmer slowly until the fish is done, basting occasionally.

  9. Transfer the fish to a dish.

  10. Keep the fish warm.

Make the sauce

  1. Reduce the sauce until the desired consistency is obtained.

  2. Remove the herbs.

  3. Add the egg yolk.

  4. Work in the butter.

  5. Pass the ingredients through a strainer.

  6. Return to a smaller stewpan.

  7. Add anchovy paste.

  8. Add chopped parsley.

  9. Add capers.

  10. Stir over the fire for a few minutes.

  11. Pour over the fish.

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. Shallot + caperstop 1% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together398 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

  2. Parsley + peppertop 2% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together34,118 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

  3. Sauce + anchovytop 2% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together2,048 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  4. Shallot + parsleytop 3% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapmoderate
    Mentioned together3,718 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

  5. Capers + parsleytop 3% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapmoderate
    Mentioned together1,550 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

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

What each ingredient does

Cod
Forms the flesh of the dish, cooked gently in the sauce until it is done.
Velouté sauce
Provides the body and creamy base that the finished sauce is built on.
Butter
Adds richness and a smooth, glossy finish when worked into the sauce.
Egg yolk
Enriches and thickens the sauce, giving it a smooth, velvety texture.
Shallots
Add a mild, sweet onion-like aroma that flavours the stock and sauce.
Anchovy paste
Adds savoury depth and a salty, umami note to the sauce.

The step that matters

Adding the egg yolk and butter to the sauce. Egg yolk thickens sauce through heat-set proteins, and it can curdle or scramble if the sauce is too hot. Working in the butter gradually, off direct high heat, keeps the emulsion smooth and glossy.

“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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