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Codfish Balls

Codfish Balls are fried balls made from simmered codfish, mashed potatoes, eggs, and seasonings.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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Why it works: Potato and pepper 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 ↓

Codfish Balls

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Simmer the codfish in a pot on low heat for 1 hour.

  2. Boil the potatoes until tender, then mash them finely.

  3. While the potatoes are hot, mix them thoroughly with the codfish.

Make the mixture

  1. Season the mixture with pepper, coarse sea salt, and butter.

  2. Add the beaten eggs and mix well.

Fry and serve

  1. Drop spoonfuls of the mixture into hot oil to fry until golden brown.

  2. Serve the balls on a napkin placed on a platter to absorb excess grease.

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

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

  2. Potato + buttertop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together6,456 recipes

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

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

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

  4. Pepper + buttertop 21% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together85,593 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).

  5. Potato + eggtop 29% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,978 recipes

    Shared aroma: (e)-2-octenal (fatty, green).

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

What each ingredient does

Codfish
Provides the main flavour and the bulk of the savoury body of the balls.
Potatoes
Starch that binds the mixture and gives the balls a soft, fluffy interior.
Eggs
Bind the mixture together so the balls hold their shape while frying.
Butter
Adds fat and richness, softening the mixture and improving flavour.

The step that matters

Drop spoonfuls into hot oil and fry until golden brown. If the oil is not hot enough, the balls absorb grease and turn heavy and soggy instead of crisping. Frying in hot oil seals the outside quickly, and browning adds flavour through the Maillard reaction.

Swap the potato

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

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

Fit is the average pairing score against pepper, butter, egg. 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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