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Fish Fritters

A fried patty made from cold fish, bread crumbs, mashed potatoes, cream, eggs, cayenne pepper, anchovy sauce, and lard.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 ingredients
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Why it works: Anchovy and sauce are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,057 recipes. Both carry ethanol, which smells alcoholic, ethereal. The science ↓

Fish Fritters

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the mixture

  1. Pound the cold fish in a marble mortar.

  2. Mix in equal parts of bread crumbs and mashed potatoes.

  3. Stir in ½ cup of cream and 2 well-beaten eggs.

  4. Add cayenne pepper and anchovy sauce if desired.

Shape and fry

  1. Beat the mixture thoroughly and cut into small cakes.

  2. Fry the cakes in boiling 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. Anchovy + saucetop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,057 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  2. Fish + anchovytop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together637 recipes

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

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

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

  4. Cream + saucetop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,787 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

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

    Shared aroma: 2-undecenal (sweet).

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

What each ingredient does

Cold fish
Provides the main body and flavor of the fritters.
Bread crumbs
Absorb moisture and help the mixture hold its shape.
Mashed potatoes
Add softness and moisture, keeping the cakes tender inside.
Cream
Adds moisture and richness to the mixture.
Eggs
Bind the mixture together and set when cooked.

The step that matters

Fry the cakes in boiling lard until golden brown.. The lard must be hot enough to brown the outside quickly. If it is too cool, the cakes absorb grease and turn heavy and oily before they set and brown.

Swap the potato

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

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

Fit is the average pairing score against fish, bread, cream, egg, pepper, anchovy, sauce. 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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