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Fish Balls

Fish Balls are made from salt fish, potatoes, egg, butter, milk, and pepper, then fried.

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

Fish Balls

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the potatoes

  1. Peel the potatoes and boil them in water for 30 minutes.

  2. Drain the water and transfer the potatoes to a tray with the fish.

Make the mixture

  1. Mash the potatoes and fish together until fine and light.

  2. Add the butter, pepper, milk, and egg, and mix thoroughly.

  3. Taste and adjust salt if necessary.

Shape and fry

  1. Shape the mixture into balls the size of an egg.

  2. Fry the balls in hot oil until golden brown, about 3 minutes.

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. Butter + creamtop 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. Potato + buttertop 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 savory, salty flavor that defines the dish.
Potatoes
Bulk and starch that bind the mixture and give the balls a soft, light texture.
Egg
Binds the mashed mixture so the balls hold their shape while frying.
Butter
Adds richness and fat, softening the mash and adding flavor.
Milk
Adds moisture to keep the mashed mixture smooth and tender.

The step that matters

Fry in hot oil until golden brown. If the oil is not hot enough, the balls absorb excess oil and turn greasy; if too hot, the outside browns before the centre heats through. Steady heat gives an even, crisp golden crust.

Swap the potato

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

  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 fish, egg, butter, pepper, cream. 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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