Why it works: Potato and carrot match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 4% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 3,107 recipes. Both carry 2-isobutyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells green bell pepper, earthy. The science ↓
Salted Cod-Fish
Ingredients
Directions
Soak
Soak the salt cod-fish in cold water overnight with the skin side up.
In the morning, keep the fish skin side up and cover it with fresh water.
Cook and serve
Bring the water to a boil, then cover tightly and reduce the heat to simmer.
Cook for 5 to 6 hours until the fish is tender and juicy.
Serve with potatoes, beets, carrots, and salt fried pork or butter sauce.
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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Potato + carrottop 4% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together3,107 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isobutyl-3-methoxypyrazine (green bell pepper, earthy).
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Potato + porktop 5% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together2,668 recipes
Shared aroma: sotolon (curry, maple).
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Fish + porktop 12% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together668 recipes
Shared aroma: 4-heptenal (creamy, biscuit).
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Fish + potatotop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together134 recipes
Shared aroma: (e,z)-2,6-nonadienal (cucumber, melon).
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Carrot + porktop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together4,772 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Salt cod
- Salted and dried fish whose flesh rehydrates during soaking and turns tender and flaky when simmered.
- Potatoes
- Starchy side that soaks up the savory cooking liquid and fish flavor when served alongside.
The step that matters
Cover tightly and keep a gentle simmer. Boiling hard toughens and dries the fish's proteins, while a tight lid and low heat hold in moisture so the flesh stays tender and juicy over the long cook.
Swap the carrot
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (fish, potato, pork):
- Tomatofits better
- Onionfits better
- Asparagusfits better
- Carrotthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against fish, potato, pork. 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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