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Codfish Balls

Codfish Balls are a savory dish made by mixing simmered codfish with mashed potatoes, eggs, butter, and seasoning, then frying or baking.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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Why it works: Potato and pepper are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 9% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 8,305 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓

Codfish Balls

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the codfish and potatoes

  1. Simmer the codfish on the back of the stove for 15 minutes, then boil gently for another 15 minutes.

  2. Boil the potatoes until tender, then mash them while hot.

Mix the filling

  1. Mix the mashed potatoes with the codfish, seasoning with pepper and coarse sea salt.

  2. Add the butter and stir until melted.

  3. Beat the eggs well and stir them into the fish and potato mixture.

Fry and drain

  1. Drop spoonfuls of the mixture into hot lard or form into balls.

  2. Lay a napkin on a platter to absorb excess fat.

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

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

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

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

  3. Butter + eggtop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together118,967 recipes

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

  4. Pepper + buttertop 21% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together85,593 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).

  5. Potato + eggtop 29% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked 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 main savory flavor and the bulk of the filling.
Potatoes
Add body and softness, binding the fish into a mashable mixture.
Butter
Adds richness and moisture to the mixture.
Eggs
Bind the mixture so the balls hold together when fried.

The step that matters

Stir in the eggs well. Beaten eggs bind the fish and potato mixture; if they are not fully incorporated, the balls may fall apart or cook unevenly in the hot lard.

Swap the potato

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

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

Fit is the average pairing score against pepper, butter, 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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