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Boiled Whitefish Fritters

A fried mixture of whitefish, bread, potatoes, cream, and eggs, coated in cracker crumbs.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 9 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 ↓

Boiled Whitefish Fritters

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the mixture

  1. Combine flaked fish, grated bread, mashed potatoes, cream, and eggs in a bowl.

  2. Season with pepper and coarse sea salt, then mix well.

  3. Form the mixture into balls.

Coat and fry

  1. Dip each ball into the beaten egg whites.

  2. Coat each ball with cracker crumbs.

  3. Fry in hot lard 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 + peppertop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together8,305 recipes

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

  2. Fish + breadtop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,668 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-undecenal (sweet).

  3. Bread + eggtop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together22,662 recipes

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

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

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

  5. Bread + potatotop 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

Flaked fish
Provides the main body of the fritter and sets firm when cooked.
Grated bread
Absorbs moisture and helps the mixture hold together.
Mashed potatoes
Adds softness and moisture to the inside of the fritter.
Cream
Adds moisture and richness, keeping the interior tender.
Eggs
Bind the mixture and set as they cook, giving structure.
Lard
Conducts heat to brown the coating and crisp the outside.

The step that matters

Fry in hot lard until golden brown. Hot fat sets the coating quickly and browns it, so the fritter crisps on the outside before it can soak up grease. If the lard is not hot enough, the fritters absorb fat, turn greasy, and may fall apart.

Swap the potato

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

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

Fit is the average pairing score against fish, bread, cream, 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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