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Slices of Cod Fish Fbied

Slices of cod fish are seasoned, floured, fried, and served with butter and anchovy sauce.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 9 ingredients
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Why it works: Anchovy and sauce are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,057 recipes. Both carry ethanol, which smells alcoholic, ethereal. The science ↓

Slices of Cod Fish Fbied

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Cut the middle or tail of the cod fish into slices nearly an inch thick.

  2. Season the slices with coarse sea salt and white pepper or cayenne.

  3. Flour the slices well.

Fry and serve

  1. Fry the slices in hot oil until they are a clear, even brown on both sides, about 8 to 12 minutes.

  2. Drain the fried slices on a sieve before the fire.

  3. Serve on a well-heated pan, garnished with plenty of crisped parsley.

  4. Alternatively, dip the slices in beaten egg, then in fine crumbs mixed with salt and pepper before frying.

  5. Serve with melted butter and anchovy 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.

  1. Anchovy + saucetop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,057 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  2. Fish + anchovytop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together637 recipes

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

  3. Fish + buttertop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,488 recipes

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

  4. Flour + buttertop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together124,287 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  5. Egg + anchovytop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,330 recipes

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

Flour and butter 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

Cod fish
Provides the main body of the dish, flaking into moist, tender pieces when cooked.
Flour
Forms a dry coating that helps the slices brown evenly and crisp in the hot oil.
Beaten egg
Binds the fine crumbs to the fish so the crust adheres during frying.
Fine crumbs
Form a crisp, golden crust when fried.
Butter
Adds richness and a smooth fat to the sauce served alongside the fish.

The step that matters

Fry until clear, even brown on both sides. Fish cooks quickly and can dry out or toughen if overcooked, while underdone slices stay pale and raw-tasting. Turning once and watching the colour helps the crust brown evenly while the flesh stays moist.

Swap the white pepper

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (fish, flour, egg, butter, anchovy, sauce, parsley):

  1. Capersfits better
  2. Tarragonfits better
  3. Nutmegfits better
  4. White pepperthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against fish, flour, egg, butter, anchovy, sauce, parsley. 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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