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Codfish Balls

Codfish balls are small, fried patties made from mashed codfish, potatoes, eggs, and coated in flour, egg, and cracker crumbs.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 ingredients
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Why it works: Potato and parsley are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,855 recipes. Both carry 4'-methylacetophenone, which smells bitter almond. The science ↓

Codfish Balls

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Mash the codfish very smooth.

  2. Add the mashed potatoes and one beaten egg, then mix thoroughly.

  3. Form the mixture into small balls about the size of an English walnut.

Coat and fry

  1. Roll each ball in flour, then in egg, and finally in cracker crumbs.

  2. Fry the balls in deep fat until golden brown.

  3. Drain on paper towels, then pile on a platter in a pyramid shape.

  4. Garnish with fried potatoes and parsley, then serve.

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 + parsleytop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,855 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

  2. Flour + parsleytop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together16,675 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

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

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

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

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  5. Egg + parsleytop 21% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together18,765 recipes

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

Egg and flour barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 106,462 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

Cooked codfish
Provides the main flavour and bulk of the balls.
Mashed potatoes
Adds starch and moisture that help the mixture bind and stay tender.
Eggs
Bind the mixture together and form a coating that helps the balls hold their shape.
Flour
Gives a dry base layer so the egg coating sticks evenly.
Cracker crumbs
Form a crisp outer crust that browns when fried.

The step that matters

Frying in deep fat until golden brown. The balls are coated and already cooked, so the fat must be hot enough to brown the crumb crust quickly. If the fat is too cool, the coating absorbs oil, becomes greasy, and the centre may stay soft and fall apart.

Swap the potato

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (egg, flour, fried potato, parsley):

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

Fit is the average pairing score against egg, flour, fried potato, parsley. 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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