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Codfish Balls

Codfish Balls are fried cakes made from shredded codfish, potatoes, and seasonings.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 9 ingredients
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Why it works: Milk and butter 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 ↓

Codfish Balls

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the codfish

  1. Cover the shredded codfish with cold water and let it stand for at least 1 hour.

  2. Drain, cover with fresh water, and boil until tender.

  3. Drain and remove bones from the codfish.

Make and fry the cakes

  1. Mash several boiled potatoes and mix with the codfish.

  2. Add a small quantity of milk, a piece of butter, and pepper to taste.

  3. If desired, beat two eggs into the mixture before forming cakes.

  4. Form the mixture into cakes, dip in flour, and fry until brown.

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. Milk + buttertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together81,283 recipes

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

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

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

  3. Potato + milktop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together3,611 recipes

    Shared aroma: (e,z)-2,6-nonadienal (cucumber, melon).

  4. Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together124,287 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

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

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

Butter and flour barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 124,287 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.

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

What each ingredient does

Shredded codfish
Provides the main savory flavor and the fish body of the cakes.
Potatoes
Adds starch and bulk, giving the mixture a soft, binding texture.
Milk
Adds moisture and softness to the mashed mixture.
Butter
Adds richness and fat, improving flavor and mouthfeel.
Flour
Dusted on the cakes, it helps them brown evenly when fried.
Eggs
Optional; helps bind the mixture and adds richness.

The step that matters

Remove the bones from the codfish. Small bones left after boiling can end up in the cakes and be swallowed. Picking the fish apart carefully while it is still warm makes the flakes easier to separate from the bones.

Swap the potato

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

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

Fit is the average pairing score against milk, butter, pepper, flour, 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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