Skip to main content
Main

Codfish Balls

Codfish balls are fried dumplings made from mashed codfish and potatoes, seasoned with butter, pepper, and egg.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 5 ingredients
Jump to recipe ↓

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 ↓

Codfish Balls

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Wash, peel, and cut the potatoes into quarters; soak in cold water.

  2. Wash the codfish and break it into half-inch pieces, removing any bones.

Make the mixture

  1. In a kettle, combine the potatoes and codfish, cover with boiling water, and cook until the potatoes are soft, about 25 minutes.

  2. Drain all the water, then mash the mixture until very light.

  3. Add the butter and pepper; when slightly cooled, mix in the egg and additional salt if needed.

  4. Shape the mixture into tablespoon-sized balls.

Fry and serve

  1. Fry in hot oil until golden brown, cooking only 4 or 5 at a time to maintain oil temperature.

  2. The oil should be hot enough to brown a piece of raw potato in 40 seconds.

  3. Drain on paper towels and serve immediately.

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. Butter + potatotop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together6,456 recipes

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

  3. Butter + eggtop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together118,967 recipes

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

  4. Butter + peppertop 21% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together85,593 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).

  5. Potato + eggtop 29% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,978 recipes

    Shared aroma: (e)-2-octenal (fatty, green).

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

What each ingredient does

Codfish
Provides the main flavor and savory fish character of the balls.
Potatoes
Mashed starch gives the balls a light, soft body and helps bind the mixture.
Egg
Binds the mashed mixture together so the balls hold their shape while frying.
Butter
Adds richness and moisture to the mashed mixture.

The step that matters

Keeping the frying oil hot. Frying only 4 or 5 balls at a time keeps the oil temperature up. If the oil cools, the balls absorb more oil, turn greasy and brown unevenly.

Swap the potato

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

  1. Capsicumfits better
  2. Asparagusfits about as well
  3. Chivefits about as well
  4. Potatothe original

Fit is the average pairing score against butter, 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.

More codfish balls recipes

Salt 3 See all 201 →

You might also like

Potato CroquettesPotato Croquettes255 recipesPotato RollsPotato Rolls78 recipesPotato ChipsPotato Chips53 recipesSweet Potato CroquettesSweet Potato Croquettes53 recipes