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Mackerel Balls

Mackerel Balls are fried balls made from salted mackerel, mashed potatoes, eggs, and pepper, served hot with parsley.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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Why it works: Pepper and parsley match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 34,122 recipes. Both carry 4'-methylacetophenone, which smells bitter almond. The science ↓

Mackerel Balls

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the mackerel

  1. Soak the salt mackerel overnight.

  2. In the morning, pour boiling water over the fish.

  3. Carefully remove the bones from the mackerel.

Shape the balls

  1. Mix the mackerel with the cold mashed potatoes, beaten eggs, and pepper.

  2. Shape the mixture into balls the size of an egg.

Fry and serve

  1. Heat the butter in a chafing dish.

  2. Fry the balls until brown, turning to brown the other side.

  3. Serve hot, garnished with parsley.

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. Pepper + parsleytop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together34,122 recipes

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

  5. Butter + parsleytop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together28,563 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-hexenal (green, leafy).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Salt mackerel
Provides the main flavour and the bulk of the fish filling for the balls.
Cold mashed potatoes
Adds body and moisture so the mixture holds together when shaped.
Beaten eggs
Bind the mixture, helping the balls set and hold their shape while cooking.
Butter
Adds fat for frying, promoting browning and a richer flavour on the outside.

The step that matters

Carefully remove the bones from the mackerel. Small bones left in the fish will be hard to notice once it is mixed and shaped, and they can be eaten by mistake. Checking the fish thoroughly before mixing protects the eater.

Swap the potato

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

  1. Shallotfits about as well
  2. Chivefits about as well
  3. Carrotfits about as well
  4. Potatothe original

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