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Cod Fish Balls

A savory ball made from minced cod, mashed potatoes, butter, cream, pepper, eggs, rolled in flour and fried.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 ingredients
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Cod Fish Balls

Why it works: Potato and beef are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 8% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,052 recipes. Both carry sotolon, which smells curry, maple. The science ↓

Cod Fish Balls

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Mix the scalded codfish with the mashed potatoes.

  2. Add the butter, cream, pepper, and beaten eggs; keep the mixture hot.

  3. Beat the mixture together with a fork until well combined.

Shape and fry

  1. Roll the mixture lightly in flour.

  2. Fry in very hot lard and beef drippings until golden 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.

Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it

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 + beeftop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,052 recipes

    Shared aroma: sotolon (curry, maple).

  2. Butter + creamtop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together41,516 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).

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

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

  4. Pepper + beeftop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together18,971 recipes

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

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

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

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

Codfish
Provides the main flavor and the flaky body of the fish balls.
Potatoes
Add starch and bulk, giving the balls a soft, cohesive interior.
Butter
Adds richness and fat, contributing to a tender texture and flavor.
Cream
Adds moisture and richness, keeping the mixture soft rather than dry.
Eggs
Bind the mixture together and help set the balls as they cook.

The step that matters

Fry in very hot lard and beef drippings. Hot fat sears the floured outside quickly, browning it and sealing in moisture. Fat that is not hot enough soaks in, leaving the balls greasy and pale inside.

Swap the potato

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

  1. Chivefits about as well
  2. Potatothe original
  3. Leekfits about as well
  4. Spinachfits about as well

Fit is the average pairing score against butter, cream, pepper, egg, flour, 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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