Why it works: Potato and butter are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 13% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 6,456 recipes. Both carry (z)-4-heptenal, which smells biscuit, cream. The science ↓
Codfish Balls
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Pick the codfish finely and freshen it.
Boil the potatoes until tender, then mash them.
Mix and shape
While the potatoes are hot, mix them with the codfish in a 2:1 ratio. Add plenty of butter to the mixture.
Form the mixture into balls.
Fry
Fry the balls in hot lard until golden brown.
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.
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Potato + buttertop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together6,456 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Codfish
- Provides the main savory flavor and the salty, fish-based character of the dish.
- Potatoes
- Add starch and bulk, binding the mixture and giving the balls a soft, tender interior.
- Butter
- Adds richness and moisture, softening the mixture and improving its flavor.
- Lard
- Fries the balls in hot fat, promoting browning and a crisp, golden exterior.
The step that matters
Fry the balls in hot lard until golden brown. If the lard is not hot enough, the balls absorb excess fat and turn greasy instead of crisping. Frying at a steady high heat browns the outside quickly while keeping the inside tender.
“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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