Why it works: Potato and egg are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 29% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 4,978 recipes. Both carry (e)-2-octenal, which smells fatty, green. The science ↓
Codfish Balls
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Scald the codfish and drain it well.
Mix
Combine the codfish with the mashed potatoes.
Fold in the beaten eggs.
Fry
Drop spoonfuls of the mixture into a kettle of hot lard.
Fry until golden brown.
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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Potato + eggtop 29% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked 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 savory, salty flavor that defines the dish.
- Potatoes
- Bind the fish and add body and moisture to the mixture.
- Eggs
- Bind the mixture together and help it hold its shape while frying.
- Lard
- Fries the balls, conducting heat to brown the outside and cook the inside.
The step that matters
Drain the codfish well after scalding. Excess water left in the fish dilutes the mixture and makes it soft, so the balls may fall apart or absorb too much fat while frying.
“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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