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Salmon Fish Balls

Salmon fish balls are made from salmon, mashed potato, and egg, then fried or broiled in butter and salt pork fat.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 5 ingredients
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Why it works: Potato and pork are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,668 recipes. Both carry sotolon, which smells curry, maple. The science ↓

Salmon Fish Balls

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Mix the salmon, mashed potato, and egg in a bowl.

  2. Shape the mixture into small flat cakes.

  3. Cover the cakes with melted butter.

Cook

  1. Broil or fry the cakes in salt pork fat.

  2. Brown one side, then flip and brown the other side.

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 + porktop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,668 recipes

    Shared aroma: sotolon (curry, maple).

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

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

  3. Butter + porktop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together13,933 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-furfurylthiol (coffee, roasted).

  4. Salmon + buttertop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,481 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,6-nonadienal (cucumber, green).

  5. Salmon + eggtop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together3,485 recipes

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

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

What each ingredient does

Salmon
Provides the main flavor and protein base of the cakes.
Mashed potato
Adds bulk and moisture, helping the cakes hold together while cooking.
Egg
Binds the mixture so the cakes keep their shape.
Melted butter
Adds richness and helps the outside of the cakes brown.
Salt pork fat
Fries the cakes, adding savory flavor and promoting browning.

The step that matters

Brown one side, then flip and brown the other side.. Flipping too early can tear the delicate cakes, since the bound surface needs time to set and form a crust before it releases from the pan.

Swap the potato

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

  1. Potatothe original
  2. Asparagusfits about as well
  3. Chivefits about as well
  4. Onionfits less well

Fit is the average pairing score against salmon, egg, butter, pork. 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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