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Ham and Potato Balls

Ham and potato balls are fried potato balls stuffed with ham.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 9 ingredients
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Why it works: Potato and mustard are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,340 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓

Ham and Potato Balls

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the filling

  1. Mix mashed potatoes with salt, pepper, flour, and beaten egg yolk until combined.

  2. Set aside until cold and stiff.

Shape the balls

  1. Take a tablespoon of the mixture and shape it into a cup in your floured hand.

  2. Place minced ham seasoned with pepper and mustard in the center.

  3. Enfold the ham with the potato mixture.

  4. Roll the mixture into a round, smooth ball.

Coat and fry

  1. Dip the ball in beaten egg.

  2. Coat the ball with cracker crumbs.

  3. Refrigerate the ball until stiff.

  4. Fry the ball in deep boiling 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. Potato + mustardtop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,340 recipes

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

  2. Pepper + mustardtop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together15,430 recipes

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

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

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

  4. Flour + mustardtop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together5,066 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  5. Ham + mustardtop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together747 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

Mashed potatoes
Forms the main body of the ball, giving it bulk and a soft, fluffy interior.
Egg yolk
Binds the potato mixture so it holds its shape when rolled and chilled.
Flour
Absorbs surface moisture and helps the mixture stay firm enough to shape.
Minced ham
Provides savory flavor and richness at the center of each ball.
Beaten egg
Acts as a glue so the cracker crumbs adhere evenly to the outside.
Cracker crumbs
Form a crisp outer coating that browns during frying.

The step that matters

Chill until stiff before frying. Cold chilling firms the starch and fat in the potato and egg coating so the balls hold their shape and crumb coat does not slide off in hot oil.

Swap the potato

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

  1. Shallotfits better
  2. Horseradishfits better
  3. Lettucefits better
  4. Potatothe original

Fit is the average pairing score against pepper, flour, egg, ham, mustard. 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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