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Codfish Omelette

A codfish omelette served on buttered toast.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 ingredients
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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 Omelette

Ingredients

Directions

Make the filling

  1. Heat the milk in a saucepan.

  2. Stir in the softened butter, flour, pepper, parsley, and minced fish.

  3. Cook for 2 minutes, then quickly add the beaten eggs.

Cook and serve

  1. Pour the mixture into a frying pan with 1 tablespoon of hot butter.

  2. Shake and stir until the edges begin to set.

  3. Heap the omelette onto the buttered toast and 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. Pepper + parsleytop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together34,122 recipes

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

  2. Milk + buttertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together81,283 recipes

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

  3. Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together124,287 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  4. Flour + parsleytop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together16,675 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  5. Milk + flourtop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together78,219 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

Butter and flour 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

Eggs
Set to form the soft, custard-like body of the omelette.
Salt cod
Provides the savoury fish flavour that defines the dish.
Milk
Adds moisture and softness to the egg mixture.
Flour
Thickens the milk so the mixture holds together while cooking.
Butter
Adds richness and helps the omelette brown and release from the pan.

The step that matters

Adding the beaten eggs to the hot fish mixture. Eggs added to a very hot base can scramble or curdle unevenly. Adding them quickly and stirring keeps the mixture smooth, and cooking only until the edges set keeps the centre tender.

Swap the parsley

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (milk, butter, flour, egg, pepper):

  1. Nutmegfits about as well
  2. Cinnamonfits about as well
  3. Parsleythe original
  4. Cardamomfits about as well

Fit is the average pairing score against milk, butter, flour, 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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