Why it works: Milk and bread are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 11% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 11,466 recipes. Both carry 2-undecenal, which smells sweet. The science ↓
Codfish Toast
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the fish
Soak the codfish in cold water to freshen it, then drain and shred it into fine pieces.
Make the fish mixture
Mix the shredded fish with flour, sweet cream, sweet milk, and beaten egg; season with pepper.
Heat the mixture slowly, stirring carefully until it thickens.
Toast and serve
Toast the stale bread until nice and moist, then place it on a platter.
Top the toast with the fish mixture and serve.
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.
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Milk + breadtop 11% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together11,466 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-undecenal (sweet).
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Egg + breadtop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together22,662 recipes
Shared aroma: (e)-2-octenal (fatty, green).
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Flour + milktop 14% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together78,219 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Flour + eggtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together106,462 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Pepper + breadtop 16% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together20,964 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Flour and milk barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 78,219 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
- Codfish
- Provides the main savory flavor and the flaky body of the topping.
- Flour
- Thickens the mixture as it heats, giving it a smooth, spreadable body.
- Sweet cream
- Adds richness and fat, giving the mixture a softer, creamier texture.
- Sweet milk
- Adds moisture and liquid so the mixture can thicken into a sauce.
- Beaten egg
- Binds the mixture and sets with gentle heat, adding structure to the topping.
The step that matters
Heat the mixture slowly, stirring carefully until it thickens. Egg proteins set at moderate heat and can curdle or scramble if heated quickly. Gentle heat with constant stirring keeps the mixture smooth while the flour thickens it.
“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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