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Codfish Omelette

A codfish omelette served on 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 base

  1. Heat the milk in a saucepan.

  2. In a bowl, mix the softened butter with the flour, then stir into the heated milk.

  3. Add pepper, parsley, and the minced fish to the mixture.

  4. 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 hissing 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 into the custard-like body of the omelette, giving it structure as they cook.
Flour
Thickens the butter and milk mixture so it holds the fish and eggs together.
Milk
Adds moisture and softness, forming the creamy base with the flour.
Salt cod
Supplies the main fish flavour and firm flaked texture to the omelette.

The step that matters

Adding the eggs to the hot base. Eggs added to a base that is too hot can scramble or curdle, while a base that is too cool will not set. Adding them quickly after the short cook keeps the mixture smooth before it hits the pan.

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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