cod – Cook and Drink

The Art of Sauces: Remoulade

27 August 2026

A few months ago we read an article in a Dutch wine magazine about pairing wine with a combination of fried cod, remoulade and a small salad. A nice challenge given the acidity in both the salad and the sauce plus the richness of the fried fish.

Remoulade is a sauce that goes very well with cold meat and fried or smoked fish. It combines mayonnaise with mustard, cornichons, capers, lemon and various herbs. Additional ingredients include anchovies, shallot and horseradish. Herbs could be parsley, tarragon, chives and chervil.
Turn it into a traditional French starter by adding celeriac (celery root).

One of the first recipes for remoulade (actually two recipes) was published in London in 1733 by Vincent La Chappelle, chef to the Earl of Chesterfield, in volume 1 of his book The Modern Cook. Both versions contain oil, shallot, garlic, lemon, parsley, mustard, cullis (meat broth) and capers. Other ingredients of the first version (hot remoulade) are gravy, wine and cloves. Additional ingredients of the second version are green onions and anchovies.

Wine Pairing

According to the magazine’s wine expert the flavours in the dish are round and filming. The expert suggests a white wine with some oak or a white wine from a warmer country. We decided to drink a glass of Verdejo made by Castelo de Medina with 100% verdejo grapes. The wine is well balanced, fresh and full bodied. It has a delicate bitterness which works very well with all components in the dish.

What You Need

Remoulade
- 200 ml Mayonaise
- teaspoon of Mustard
- 2 Cornichons
- teaspoon of Capers (in brine)
- ½ small Shallot
- Lemon Juice
- 2 tablespoons of mixed herbs (Parsley, Chervil and Chives)
Fish
- Cod, Hake, Haddock, Weever or another firm white fish
- one Egg
- Chapelure
Salad
- Mâche, Mesclun
- dressing made with olive oil, lemon and mustard

What You Do

Remoulade
1. Make the mayonnaise
2. Very finely chop the shallot
3. Dry and slice the cornichons and the capers
4. Chop the herbs
5. Combine all ingredients
6. Add lemon juice to taste
7. Transfer to the refrigerator for a few hours
Fish
1. Beat the egg
2. Heat a non stick pan
3. Add oil to the pan
4. Coat the fish with egg
5. Coat the fish with chapelure
6. Fry the fish until golden
Dish
1. Make a dressing by combining olive oil. lemon and mustard
2. Toss the salad with the dressing
3. Serve the fried fish with the remoulade and the salad

PS

Comparing the list of ingredients used by Chef La Chapelle you wil notice that modern remoulade doesn’t contain garlic or cullis. He didn’t use mayonnaise for the simple reason that the first recipe for mayonnaise was published in 1828, nearly one hundred years later.

Remoulade ©cadwu made with mayonnaise, capers, lemon, cornichons, parsley, chervil, chives and mustard

Cod with Miso

3 April 2025

Marinating is such an interesting way of preparing food. It can be used to make food (meat) softer, to add flavour or colour, it can be acidic, it can be enzymatic, sometimes it requires only a few minutes, sometimes it takes days.

One of our favourite recipes by Antonio Carlucci is a salad made with maitake, fresh scallops, crab and shrimps. It’s an amazing result, with lots of pleasant flavours, also thanks to the cilantro, dill and parsley. Part of the fun is that the scallops are not seared but prepared with a marinade of lemon, a process that takes a few minutes only.

In this case we want to add flavour (and a bit of colour) to already very tasty cod. The duration depends on the shape of the fillet, in our case it was 30 minutes. You will taste delicious cod with a touch of umami and sweetness and you will smell the aromas of the marinade. The pickles will give the dish a crunchy and briny touch.

Wine Pairing

We enjoyed a glass of our favourite sake: Junmai Taru Sake as produced by Kiku-Masamune. The sake is matured in barrels made of the finest Yoshino cedar, which is reflected in its aroma and flavor. The sake will clear your palate and allow for the more intense taste of the marinated cod.

If you decide to pair the dish with a white wine, then we suggest an aromatic, fresh and fruity wine, with aromas of citrus and apple. The wine should be uplifting and juicy with a light character.

What You Need

Fillet of Cod
1 tablespoon of Miso
1 tablespoon of Mirin
¼ tablespoon Soy Sauce (preferably with less salt)
½ tablespoon of Rice Vinegar
1 teaspoon of Mustard
1 teaspoon of Sesame Oil
Pickled Cucumber

What You Do

Combine miso, mirin, soy sauce, rice vinegar, sesame oil and mustard. Be careful with the soy sauce, you’re looking for a balanced mixture.
Dry the cod and leave to marinate in the mixture for 30 minutes.
Transfer the cod without excess marinade and fry in a warm pan until done.
- The fish should be opaque and flaky. Its internal temperature 60 – 63 °C or 140 – 145 °F
- The sugars in the marinade burn easily, so the pan shouldn’t be too warm.
Serve on a warm plate with the pickles.

Variations

You can also prepare this dish with haddock (although it’s perhaps too delicate), ling or pollack.
If you want a spicier marinade, then add grated fresh ginger. Crushed cilantro seeds will add more depth to the taste.

Cod in Green

1 August 2024

“Perhaps you would like to try ling? It’s similar to cod, perhaps more delicate.” We’re always happy to try something new, so we said “yes” to our fishmonger and bought a nice slice of ling. It’s an impressive fish with a length of 200 cm and its weight can be 30 kg. There is no data available on the size of the population per region because it’s a solitary, deep water species, which makes it a ‘fish to avoid’.
We prepared the ling and unfortunately it wasn’t our most successful kitchen experiment. Taste and texture were very good, the combination with blue cheese didn’t work and frying ling turned out to be a mistake. Next time we will stew ling in a green sauce, like Paling in ‘t Groen (Eel in Green or Anguilles au vert) we decided.
A few days later.
“We would like to have some ling please.”
“Sorry, no ling today.”
“Ah, pity! What would you suggest as an alternative?”
“Cod!”, our fishmonger said, smiling.
Since eel is critically endangered, we decided to make Cod in Green.

Wine Pairing

Lots of fresh, aromatic flavours in this dish, making it light and uplifting. We would suggest a glass of Chardonnay, perhaps one with a touch of oak. We decided to open a bottle of Coteaux Varois en Provence rosé, produced by Estandon and made with grenache, cinsault en syrah grapes. Fruity, a touch spice and with a great finish.

What You Need

For the Sauce
- Watercress
- Parsley
- Chervil
- Dill
- 50 ml Double Cream
- 100 ml Fish Fond
- 65 ml Noilly Prat
For the Fish
- 200 grams of Cod
- Butter

What You Do

Combine cream, fond and Noilly Prat
Stir well and reduce until it thickens. This may take 15 minutes or more
In parallel remove the stems of a generous amount of watercress and chervil. Be less generous with the parsley. Add some dill
Poach this for 20 seconds in boiling water
Remove and transfer to an ice bath
Drain and blender until you have a smooth, green mixture
When the sauce starts to thicken, fry the cod in butter until it’s nicely browned and opaque
Four minutes before the cod is ready, add the green mixture to the reduced sauce and warm through and through
Do not boil
Add the sauce to a deep plate and serve the fish on top of the sauce. Garnish with chervil

Cod Cheeks

9 February 2023

Cod has been a popular fish for hundreds of years. Much appreciated for its taste and structure. Its popularity unfortunately also means it has been heavily overfished. During the nineties the population dropped significantly. Thanks to various restrictions, cod is slowly on its way back to recovery, especially in the Northeast Atlantic Ocean, although it is still on the red list in many countries. Sea Food Watch provides a very helpful buying guide.

When you buy cod, in most cases you buy cod fillets. But what happens to the remainder, what happens for instance to the head? You could roast it in the oven, you could use it to make stock (don’t forget to remove the skewers), in some countries dried cod heads are appreciated as a delicacy, but in reality, most fish heads seem to end up in animal food or biofuel.

Recently our fish monger surprised us by selling cod cheeks, an absolute delicacy. They are moist with a firm structure and have a delicate taste. Great to combine with parsley, capers and lemon. Or make a batter with beer, flower and egg, coat the cheeks and fry them in oil at 180 °C or 360 °F.

Wine Pairing

A medium bodied white wine will do very well in combination with the Cod Cheeks, for instance an unoaked Chardonnay or Chenin Blanc. We enjoyed a glass of Clin d’Oeil, Saumur Blanc from the Loire region in France produced by Les Vignobles Edonis. It’s a dry wine with clear acidity, fruit, green apples, some minerality and length.

What You Need

200 grams of Cod Cheeks
All Purpose Flower
Egg
Bread Crumbs
Butter
Pepper
Tartar Sauce

What You Do

Carefully remove the skin and white membranes of the cod cheeks
Separate the egg, whisk the egg yolk
Heat a pan and add butter
Dry the cod cheeks with kitchen paper, dust with flower, then dip in the egg yolk and coat with bread crumbs
Fry until golden
Add some black pepper and serve on a warm plate
A dish to share!

PS

Make your own bread-crumbs by using old, stale but originally very tasty bread. Obviously, we use our home-made bread.
Toast the bread and let cool. Cut in smaller bits and then use a cutter or blender to make the crumbs. They keep very well in the freezer, so best to make in advance, when you have some left over bread.
Make your own tartar sauce by combining mayonnaise, pickles, lemon juice, capers, dill and Dijon mustard.

Weever

10 November 2022

Fish and Chips, such a tasty combination, especially when the fish is fried with beer-based batter and served with triple-cooked chips, mushy peas and tartare sauce. Commonly it is made with cod or haddock. We prefer haddock because of its flavour and more importantly its texture. Both haddock and cod are expensive and in these days of high inflation we are keen to find a cheap alternative.

That’s why we recently tried this dish with weever, also known as Pieterman in Dutch and Vive in French. We were not disappointed, not at all. Excellent texture, taste a bit stronger compared to haddock but nevertheless yummy.
Weever is actually a really interesting fish. Weevers hide in the sand, waiting for prey. Their defence is based on a poisonous dorsal fin which makes it very painful when you step on it or want to get gold of them. Therefore it is unpopular with anglers, making it bycatch. And because of that, weever is not expensive. Great combination: save money and enjoy delicious food!

Drink Pairing

A nice, cold beer will go very well with this dish. Wine wise the choice is yours: unoaked Chardonnay, Semillon, dry Riesling, Rueda, Chenin Blanc or Picpoul de Pinet. The wine must be fresh, a touch citrussy and have balanced acidity.

What You Need

For the Haddock, Cod or Weever
- Boneless Fillet
- All Purpose Flour
- Breadcrumbs (see below)
- Egg
- Butter
- Olive Oil
- Black Pepper
For the Pickled Radish
- Red Radishes
- Shallot
- White Wine Vinegar
- Sugar
Mayonnaise

What You Do – Pickled Radish

Take a cup of white wine vinegar, add it to a bowl, add sugar, perhaps some water (depending on the acidity of the vinegar), mix very well and taste
The mixture should be both sweet and sour
Slice the radishes and the shallot
Add to the mixture, stir and leave in the refrigerator for a few hours
Over time the colours will blend
The vegetables will keep well for a few days
Feel free to use the same approach with other (firm) small vegetables

What You Do – Haddock, Cod or Weever

Pat the fillet dry with kitchen paper
Check if there are really no bones
Take three plates, one with flour, one with beaten egg, one with breadcrumbs
Coat the fillet with flour, then dip it into the egg mixture and finally coat with the crumbs
Fry in hot butter (with olive oil) until lovely golden brown
Serve immediately on a warm plate

What You Do – Breadcrumbs

Also known as chapelure
Use old, stale but originally very tasty bread. Obviously, we use our home-made bread
Toast the bread and let cool
Cut in smaller bits and then use a cutter or blender to make the crumbs
They keep very well in the freezer, so best to make in advance, when you have some left over bread

Animal_drawings_collected_by_Felix_Platter

Fish Cakes

1 July 2022

They are so tempting! The crunchy crust, the flaky texture and the flavour, especially when combined with mayonnaise and lemon. When we see them at the supermarket or at the fishmonger, we can’t always resist buying them. But we should resist the temptation because most fish cakes should be called salty potato cakes. Hardly any fish, limited herbs, the structure of mashed potato and lots of salt to disguise the lack of real flavour.

It’s not a lot of work to prepare your own fish cakes, so be brave and ignore the factory-made ones. The recipe is very flexible, you could make a Thai version (Tod Mun Pla) with lemon grass, red curry, onions and garlic, a traditional version with stockfish, or cakes with salmon, with shrimps etcetera. To be served with Tartar sauce, sweet chili sauce, dill sauce or perhaps hoisin. We prefer Jean Beddington‘s fish cakes (served with a beetroot chutney) or a more traditional version that focuses on the fish, with herbs and black pepper in a supporting role, breaded with our home-made breadcrumbs.