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Codfish Balls

A fried codfish and potato ball coated in breadcrumbs.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 ingredients
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Why it works: Butter and bread are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 27,232 recipes. Both carry delta-decalactone, which smells sweet, creamy. The science ↓

Codfish Balls

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the cod

  1. Shred the cold boiled or soaked codfish very fine.

Form and coat

  1. Combine the codfish with an equal amount or more of mashed potatoes.

  2. Moisten the mixture with a beaten egg and season with pepper and butter.

  3. Form the mixture into cakes.

  4. Dip each cake in a beaten egg, then coat with bread crumbs.

Fry

  1. Fry the cakes in deep oil 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.

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. Butter + breadtop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together27,232 recipes

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

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

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

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

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

  4. Egg + breadtop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together22,662 recipes

    Shared aroma: (e)-2-octenal (fatty, green).

  5. Potato + breadtop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together434 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-acetyl-1-pyrroline (popcorn, roasted).

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

What each ingredient does

Codfish
Provides the main flavour and the flaked texture of the cakes.
Mashed potatoes
Adds starch and bulk that hold the cakes together and keep them moist.
Beaten egg
Binds the mixture so the cakes keep their shape while frying.
Bread crumbs
Forms a crisp, golden-brown crust when fried.
Butter
Adds richness and fat that softens the mixture and adds flavour.

The step that matters

Fry in deep oil until golden brown. The oil must be hot enough to crisp the crumb coating quickly. If it is too cool, the cakes soak up oil and turn greasy before the crust sets, and the centre may stay loose.

Swap the potato

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

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

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