Name: Boiled Cod
Ingredients: 1 firm, thick piece of cod (4-5 pounds); coarse sea salt; butter; lemon juice; 3 tablespoons egg sauce

Why it works: Butter and sauce are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 15% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 15,338 recipes. Both carry ethanol, which smells alcoholic, ethereal. The science ↓

Boiled Cod

Ingredients

Directions

Cook the cod

Sew the cod in mosquito netting.
Place it in a pot of boiling salted water.
Cook for 1 hour.

Serve

Remove the netting and place the fish on a hot dish.
Rub the fish with butter and lemon juice.
Top with 3 tablespoons of egg sauce.

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.

Butter + saucetop 15% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together15,338 recipes

Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
Butter + lemontop 16% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together41,227 recipes

Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).
Butter + eggtop 17% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together118,967 recipes

Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).
Lemon + eggtop 19% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together44,316 recipes

Shared aroma: (e,e)-2,4-decadienal (fatty, deep fried).
Lemon + saucetop 30% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together6,598 recipes

Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

Butter and sauce barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 15,338 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

Cod: Provides the main protein, which firms and turns flaky as it cooks.
Butter: Adds richness and a silky mouthfeel that complements the mild fish.
Lemon juice: Adds acidity that brightens the flavour and cuts the richness of the butter.
Egg sauce: Adds creaminess and richness on top of the fish.