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Codfish Balls

A dish of mashed codfish and potatoes formed into balls, coated in breadcrumbs and fried.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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Why it works: Cream and butter are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 8% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 41,516 recipes. Both carry delta-dodecalactone, which smells sweet, creamy. The science ↓

Codfish Balls

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Wash and pick over the salt fish, shredding it into small pieces.

  2. Peel the potatoes and cut them into quarters.

Make the mixture

  1. Put the fish and potatoes in a saucepan, cover with boiling water, and cook for 25 minutes or until the potatoes are tender.

  2. Drain thoroughly, then mash and beat the mixture with a fork until light.

  3. Add the melted butter and mix, then cool slightly.

  4. Beat the egg and add it to the mixture along with the cream, adding gradually until the mixture is not too soft.

Shape and fry

  1. Form the mixture into balls, cover with egg and bread crumbs, and fry in hot oil.

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. Cream + buttertop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together41,516 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).

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

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

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

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

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

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

  5. Fish + potatotop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked 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

Salt fish
Provides the main savory flavor and salty character of the balls.
Potatoes
Provide starch and bulk that hold the mixture together and keep it tender.
Egg
Binds the mixture so it holds its shape during frying.
Melted butter
Adds fat for richness and a softer, more tender texture.
Cream
Adds moisture and softness to the mixture.

The step that matters

Adding the egg and cream gradually. Too much liquid makes the mixture soft and sticky, so the balls may fall apart in the hot oil. Adding the liquid a little at a time lets you stop once the mixture is firm enough to shape.

Swap the potato

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

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

Fit is the average pairing score against cream, egg, fish, butter, 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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