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Herring Balls

A fried ball made from dried herring and mashed potatoes, seasoned with cayenne pepper and coated in cracker dust.

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

Herring Balls

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the filling

  1. Seal the herring, then remove the skin and bones.

  2. Mix the herring with an equal amount of mashed potatoes.

Shape and coat

  1. Season with cayenne pepper and add cream or melted butter until the mixture can be formed into balls.

  2. Dip each ball in the beaten egg, then roll in cracker dust.

Fry

  1. Fry in deep lard until golden brown.

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

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

  2. Potato + creamtop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together2,481 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-one (mushroom, metallic).

  3. Pepper + creamtop 23% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together21,449 recipes

    Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).

  4. Cream + eggtop 24% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together42,166 recipes

    Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).

  5. Potato + eggtop 29% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,978 recipes

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

Pepper and cream barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 21,449 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

Dried red herring
Provides the main fish flavor and the bulk of the protein in the balls.
Mashed potatoes
Binds the fish and adds softness and moisture to the interior.
Cream or melted butter
Adds moisture and fat so the mixture holds together and stays tender.
Egg
Acts as a binder so the cracker dust sticks evenly to each ball.
Cracker dust
Forms a crisp coating that browns during frying.

The step that matters

Fry in deep lard until golden brown. Lard must be hot enough to set the coating quickly. If it is too cool, the balls absorb grease and turn soggy; if too hot, the crust browns before the centre heats through.

Swap the potato

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

  1. Spinachfits better
  2. Capsicumfits better
  3. Asparagusfits about as well
  4. Potatothe original

Fit is the average pairing score against pepper, cream, egg. 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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