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Cod-fish Balls.— No. 1

Cod fish balls made with cod, potatoes, butter, pepper, milk, fried in lard.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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Why it works: Butter and milk are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 81,283 recipes. Both carry (z)-4-heptenal, which smells biscuit, cream. The science ↓

Cod-fish Balls.— No. 1

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the cod

  1. Soak the cod fish in cold water overnight or in the morning.

  2. Change the water and scald the fish for an hour, then boil for 5-6 minutes.

Mix and shape

  1. Chop the fish very fine and mix with equal quantities of mashed potatoes.

  2. Add butter, pepper, and milk to soften the mixture.

  3. Form small cakes and 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. Butter + milktop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together81,283 recipes

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

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

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

  3. Potato + milktop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together3,611 recipes

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

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

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

  5. Fish + milktop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,432 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4-heptenal (creamy, biscuit).

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

What each ingredient does

Cod fish
Provides the main flavor and bulk of the fish balls.
Potatoes
Add starch and body, binding the fish into a soft, cohesive mixture.
Butter
Adds richness and softens the mixture for a tender texture.
Milk
Adds moisture that keeps the mixture soft and easy to shape.
Lard
Conducts heat for frying, browning the outside to a golden crust.

The step that matters

Soaking and scalding the cod. Soaking and changing the water draws out excess salt from the dried cod, and boiling cooks the fish fully. Under-soaking leaves the fish too salty, while thorough cooking keeps the fish flaky and safe to eat.

Swap the potato

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

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

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