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Salt Fish Balls

Salt fish balls are mashed potatoes mixed with salt fish, butter, egg, and pepper, shaped into balls and fried.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 5 ingredients
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Why it works: Pepper and potato 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 ↓

Salt Fish Balls

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the potatoes

  1. Pare the potatoes.

  2. Cook the potatoes until soft enough to mash.

  3. Drain the potatoes very dry.

  4. Add butter, pepper, and beaten egg to the potatoes.

Prepare the fish

  1. Soak the shredded fish in cold water for about 10 minutes.

  2. If not using shredded fish, wash and shred the fish.

  3. Cook the fish in water for about 20 minutes.

  4. Drain the fish well.

Shape and fry

  1. Add the fish to the mashed potatoes.

  2. Beat the mixture well.

  3. Shape into balls.

  4. Cook the balls in deep fat until 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. Pepper + potatotop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together8,305 recipes

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

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

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

  3. Butter + potatotop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together6,456 recipes

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

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

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

  5. Butter + eggtop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together118,967 recipes

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

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

What each ingredient does

Potatoes
Provide the starchy base that mashes into the body of the balls.
Salt fish
Supplies the salty, savoury flavour that defines the dish.
Egg
Binds the mashed mixture so the balls hold their shape.
Butter
Adds fat and richness to the mashed potato.

The step that matters

Drain the potatoes very dry. Excess water dilutes the mash and makes the balls soft and likely to fall apart when shaped and fried. Dry potatoes hold together better.

Swap the potato

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

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

Fit is the average pairing score against fish, butter, 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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