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Potato Balls

A fried dish of mashed potatoes mixed with butter, egg, salt, and pepper, formed into balls or cakes.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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Potato Balls

Why it works: Potato and pepper are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 9% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 8,305 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓

Potato Balls

Ingredients

Directions

Make the mixture

  1. Combine the mashed potatoes, butter, and beaten egg in a bowl.

  2. If the potatoes are cold, cream the butter before mixing.

  3. Add salt and pepper to the mixture.

Shape the balls

  1. Scoop spoonfuls of the mixture onto a floured surface.

  2. Roll the spoonfuls into balls or cakes.

Fry

  1. Melt enough butter in a frying pan to cover the bottom.

  2. Heat the pan to frying point.

  3. Add the potato cakes to the pan.

  4. Carefully turn the cakes as they brown.

  5. Once browned all over, remove from the pan.

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.

Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it

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 + peppertop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together8,305 recipes

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

  2. Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together124,287 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  3. Potato + buttertop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together6,456 recipes

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

  4. Potato + flourtop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together5,355 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  5. Egg + flourtop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together106,462 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

Mashed potatoes
Form the bulk of the mixture, giving the balls their body and soft interior.
Egg
Binds the mashed potato so the balls hold their shape while frying.
Butter
Adds richness and flavour, and helps the outside brown in the pan.

The step that matters

Carefully turn the cakes as they brown. Cakes that are moved too early or too roughly can stick or break apart. Letting a golden crust form first lets the surface set so the cake releases cleanly.

Swap the potato

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (butter, egg, pepper, flour):

  1. Chivefits better
  2. Shallotfits better
  3. Asparagusfits better
  4. Potatothe original

Fit is the average pairing score against butter, egg, pepper, flour. 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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