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Salt FisH Balls

Salt fish balls are fried balls made from mashed salt fish, potatoes, butter, egg, and pepper.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 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 ↓

Salt FisH Balls

Oven, in the book's wordsA very hot oven

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Wash the fish, pick it into pieces, and remove any bones.

  2. Pare the potatoes and cut them into quarters.

Make the mixture

  1. Place the potatoes and fish in a stewpan and cover with boiling water.

  2. Boil until the potatoes are tender.

  3. Drain off all the water.

  4. Mash the fish and potatoes until very light.

  5. Add the butter and pepper.

  6. When slightly cooled, add the egg.

Fry and serve

  1. Drop spoonfuls into smoking hot fat and fry for 1 minute.

  2. Drain on brown paper.

  3. They may be formed into balls and browned in a very hot oven.

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. Fish + buttertop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,488 recipes

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

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

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

  4. Fish + potatotop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together134 recipes

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

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

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

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

What each ingredient does

Salt fish
Provides the main savoury flavour and the bulk of the mixture.
Potatoes
Adds starch and body, so the mash holds together and stays soft inside.
Egg
Binds the mixture so the fritters hold their shape while frying.
Butter
Adds richness and moisture to the mashed mixture.

The step that matters

Adding the egg. If the mixture is still hot, the egg can scramble and the mixture can loosen. Letting it cool slightly keeps the egg smooth and helps it bind the mash.

Swap the potato

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

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

Fit is the average pairing score against fish, butter, egg, pepper. 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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