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Codfish Omelette

A baked codfish and egg mixture with butter, flour, and milk.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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Why it works: Milk and butter 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 ↓

Codfish Omelette

Oven, in the book's wordsA hot oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a hot oven”. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Prepare the cod

  1. Wash the salt cod and soak it in warm water overnight.

  2. In the morning, remove the bones and chop the cod finely.

Make the custard

  1. In a pot, combine the chopped cod and milk, and bring to a boil.

  2. Stir in the butter and flour mixed with a little cold milk until smooth.

  3. Add the beaten eggs and mix well.

Bake

  1. Pour the mixture into a buttered dish and bake in a hot oven at 400°F (200°C) until it rises and browns on top.

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

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

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

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

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

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  4. Flour + eggtop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together106,462 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  5. Butter + eggtop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together118,967 recipes

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

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

Salt cod
Provides the main savoury flavour and firm, flaky texture once soaked and chopped.
Milk
Forms the liquid base that cooks into a soft, creamy custard.
Butter
Adds richness and fat, contributing flavour and a tender texture.
All-purpose flour
Thickens the milk mixture so it holds together rather than running loose.
Eggs
Set when baked, giving the omelette its structure and lift as it rises and browns.

The step that matters

Stirring the flour into the boiling milk until smooth. Flour added without being pre-mixed with cold liquid clumps into lumps that stay in the custard. Mixing it with a little cold milk first lets the starch disperse evenly before thickening.

“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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