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Smoked Fish Patties

A patty made from smoked fish, cream sauce, and mashed potatoes, fried until golden.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 5 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 ↓

Smoked Fish Patties

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. In a bowl, combine the smoked fish, cream sauce, and mashed potatoes. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

  2. Form the mixture into patties.

  3. Dip each patty in the beaten egg.

Cook

  1. Fry the patties in a skillet 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. Cream + saucetop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,787 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  3. Cream + potatotop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together2,481 recipes

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

  4. Smoked fish + eggtop 21% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together17 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).

  5. Cream + peppertop 23% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together21,449 recipes

    Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).

Cream and pepper 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

Smoked fish
Provides the main flavor and the flaked body of the patties.
Cream sauce
Adds moisture and binds the mixture so it holds its shape.
Mashed potatoes
Adds bulk and softness, helping the patties hold together.
Egg
Coats the patties and helps them brown during frying.

The step that matters

Frying the patties until golden brown. Patties with a moist binder can fall apart or burn if the heat is too high or they are moved too early. Medium heat lets the outside set and brown evenly while the centre cooks through.

Swap the potato

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

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

Fit is the average pairing score against smoked fish, cream, sauce, pepper, 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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