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Mock Fish Balls in Curry or Cream Sauce

Potato-based mock fish balls served in curry or cream sauce.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
By Henrietta Latham Dwight · From a historical cookbook (Project Gutenberg) · 15 ingredients
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Why it works: Potato and onion are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 3% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 9,023 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓

Mock Fish Balls in Curry or Cream Sauce

Ingredients

Directions

Make the first mixture

  1. Five ounces of plain boiled potatoes put through a patent vegetable strainer or mashed very fine.

  2. Add three ounces of butter and a slightly heaping tablespoonful of Groult's potato flour, two eggs slightly beaten and stirred in a little at a time, a few drops of onion juice and salt and pepper to taste.

  3. Have a saucepan of boiling salted water over the fire, dip a tablespoon in cold water and then into the mixture and take out in oblong balls as nicely and uniformly shaped as possible, and drop them carefully into the boiling water, which must not boil too violently as the mixture is tender and would cook to pieces.

  4. Put them in without crowding and let them cook three minutes, taking them out one after another as they are done.

  5. Put in a colander to drain while preparing the curry sauce.

Make the curry sauce

  1. Melt in a saucepan a heaping tablespoonful of butter and add to it a heaping teaspoonful of flour, an even teaspoonful of curry powder, stir well and add milk until of the consistency of cream sauce.

  2. Put the balls into the sauce and let it come to a boil, remove from the fire, and add a tablespoonful of good Madeira.

  3. Serve on a platter, garnish with parsley and serve.

  4. The curry powder and wine may be omitted if not liked, and the balls served in plain cream sauce.

Make the alternative mould

  1. Take three or four large white potatoes.

  2. Wash and peel them and boil until only half done.

  3. Grate them, and take only the part that has passed through the grater, that it may be light.

  4. Then weigh out half a pound.

  5. Beat the yolks of three eggs very light with a quarter of a cup of cream, mix with the potatoes and add three ounces of butter melted, half a teaspoonful of grated white onion, a dash of cayenne pepper, and salt to taste.

  6. Butter a mould well, sprinkle it with dried and sifted bread crumbs, put the mixture in it, and set the mould in a pan of boiling water in the oven, cover the mould and bake half an hour.

  7. Turn out carefully on a platter, pour a cream or Hollandaise sauce around it, and garnish with parsley.

  8. Serve very hot with a cucumber salad with French dressing, as a fish course.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

576Calories
13 gProtein
37 gFat
52 gCarbs
What these numbers assume: 10 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Potato1 medium (173g) baked161
Vegetable1 tbsp (14g)120
Butter1 tbsp (14g)102
Egg1 large egg (50g)78
Cream1 tbsp (15ml) heavy51
Onion1 medium (110g)44
Chili1 tsp (2.7g)8
Black Pepper1 tsp ground (2.3g)6
Cayenne1 tsp (1.8g)6
Salt1 tsp (6g)0

One typical portion per ingredient; the recipe's quantities are not counted. A rough guide only, not for medical or dietary planning.

By Henrietta Latham Dwight. Recipe from a historical cookbook (Project Gutenberg).

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. See the original page.

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 + oniontop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together9,023 recipes

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

  2. Butter + creamtop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together41,516 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).

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

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

  4. Onion + peppertop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together68,474 recipes

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

  5. Potato + buttertop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked 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

Potatoes
Starch that bind the mixture and give the balls a soft, tender body.
Butter
Adds richness and moisture, giving the balls a smooth, tender texture.
Eggs
Bind the mixture so the balls hold their shape while cooking.
Potato flour
Absorbs moisture and helps the mixture hold together when shaped.
Cream
Adds moisture and richness to the sauce and the mould mixture.

The step that matters

Boiling the balls gently. The mixture is tender and held together only by the eggs and starch, so a rolling boil can break the balls apart. Gentle simmering sets them while keeping their shape.

Swap the onion

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

  1. Asparagusfits about as well
  2. Chivefits about as well
  3. Spinachfits about as well
  4. Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against potato, butter, cream, 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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