Why it works: Potato and fish work together. They rank in the top 15% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 134 recipes. Both carry (e,z)-2,6-nonadienal, which smells cucumber, melon. The science ↓
Fish Balls
Ingredients
Directions
Mix mashed potato and cold fish together until well combined.
Form the mixture into balls.
Fry the balls in hot oil until golden brown.
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.
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Potato + fishtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together134 recipes
Shared aroma: (e,z)-2,6-nonadienal (cucumber, melon).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Mashed potato
- Binds the fish and adds softness and moisture to the inside of the ball.
- Cold fish
- Provides the main flavour and protein that forms the body of the ball.
The step that matters
Frying the balls in hot oil. If the oil is not hot enough, the balls absorb grease and turn heavy instead of forming a crisp, golden crust. Oil that is too hot can brown the outside before the centre is heated through.
“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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