Skip to main content
Main

Codfish Balls

Codfish balls are fried balls made from mashed codfish, potatoes, egg, butter, and pepper.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 5 ingredients
Jump to recipe ↓

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

The book gives no cooking times; the times in the steps were added in transcription, so check for doneness rather than trusting the clock.

Prepare

  1. Wash the cod fish in cold water and break it into small pieces.

  2. Wash and peel the potatoes, then cut them into pieces.

Cook and mash

  1. Cook the fish and potatoes together in boiling water until the potatoes are soft.

  2. Drain the mixture.

  3. Shake the mixture over the fire until dry.

  4. Mash the mixture with a wire potato masher.

  5. Add the beaten egg, butter, and pepper, mixing until light.

  6. Adjust salt if needed.

Shape and fry

  1. Take spoonfuls of the mixture and mold slightly.

  2. Slip the molded balls into hot fat.

  3. Fry for 1 minute or until brown.

  4. If the codfish balls break, add a little more egg.

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. Potato + fishtop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together134 recipes

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

  5. Egg + buttertop 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

Potatoes
Provide starch and body that bind the fish and give the balls a soft interior.
Egg
Binds the mixture together and helps the balls hold their shape.
Salt cod fish
Supplies the main flavor and the flaky texture of the balls.
Butter
Adds richness and moisture to the mixture.

The step that matters

Shake the mixture over the fire until dry. Removing surface and cooking water keeps the mash firm enough to shape. Wet mash softens, loses its structure, and can fall apart in the hot fat.

Swap the potato

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

More codfish balls recipes

Salt 3 See all 201 →

You might also like

Potato CroquettesPotato Croquettes255 recipesFried FishFried Fish120 recipesFish CroquettesFish Croquettes81 recipesPotato RollsPotato Rolls78 recipes