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Boiled Codfish

A boiled codfish served with white sauce, riced potatoes, corn, tomato, and various accompaniments.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 12 ingredients
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Why it works: Potato and corn match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 938 recipes. Both carry (e)-2-octenal, which smells fatty, green. The science ↓

Boiled Codfish

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the fish and sides

  1. Boil the codfish until cooked through.

  2. Prepare the white sauce and mix with the codfish.

  3. Cook the riced potatoes until tender.

  4. Combine corn with southern-style dressing.

  5. Serve sliced tomatoes with Wesson oil.

  6. Toast the rice bread and spread with oleomargarine.

Make the dessert and serve

  1. Prepare apricot tapioca pudding according to package instructions.

  2. Serve with top milk and cornstarch as needed.

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. Potato + corntop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together938 recipes

    Shared aroma: (e)-2-octenal (fatty, green).

  2. Potato + tomatotop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together2,798 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  3. Corn + tomatotop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together2,099 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

  4. Potato + milktop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together3,611 recipes

    Shared aroma: (e,z)-2,6-nonadienal (cucumber, melon).

  5. Corn + milktop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together6,955 recipes

    Shared aroma: hexanal (green, grassy).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Codfish
Provides the main protein and flaky body of the dish.
White sauce
Adds moisture and creaminess that coats the cooked fish.
Riced potatoes
Supply starch and a soft, fluffy texture as a side.
Apricot tapioca pudding
Adds sweetness and a soft, set texture to the dessert.
Cornstarch
Thickens liquids such as the milk into a smooth, set consistency.

The step that matters

Boil the codfish until cooked through. Fish protein sets as it heats, so it turns opaque and flakes when fully cooked. Underdone fish is firm and translucent, while overcooked fish becomes dry and tough.

Swap the apricot

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sauce, potato, corn, tomato, rice bread, milk):

  1. Avocadofits better
  2. Coconutfits better
  3. Cherryfits better
  4. Apricotthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against sauce, potato, corn, tomato, rice bread, milk. 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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