Why it works: Butter and milk are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 81,283 recipes. Both carry (z)-4-heptenal, which smells biscuit, cream. The science ↓
Fish Cakes
Ingredients
Directions
Make the mixture
Combine the flaked cod and hot mashed potatoes in a bowl.
Add the butter, beaten eggs, milk, and pepper, then mix until smooth.
Form and fry
Form the mixture into round cakes.
Heat the beef drippings or lard in a skillet over medium heat.
Fry the cakes until golden brown on both sides.
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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Butter + milktop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together81,283 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
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Potato + beeftop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together2,052 recipes
Shared aroma: sotolon (curry, maple).
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Potato + peppertop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together8,305 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Potato + milktop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together3,611 recipes
Shared aroma: (e,z)-2,6-nonadienal (cucumber, melon).
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Pepper + beeftop 10% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together18,971 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Cod
- Provides the main body and flavor of the cakes.
- Mashed potatoes
- Add starch and bulk that hold the cakes together and keep them moist.
- Eggs
- Bind the mixture and help it set as it cooks.
- Butter
- Adds richness and fat for flavor and tenderness.
- Milk
- Adds moisture that keeps the mixture soft and smooth.
The step that matters
Fry the cakes until golden brown on both sides. The cakes are soft and held together mainly by egg and starch. Medium heat lets the centre set and the surface brown evenly without burning, and turning them once helps them keep their shape.
Swap the potato
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (butter, egg, milk, pepper, beef):
- Potatothe original
- Capsicumfits about as well
- Asparagusfits less well
- Tomatofits less well
Fit is the average pairing score against butter, egg, milk, pepper, beef. 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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