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Codfish Balls

A fried ball made from mashed codfish, potatoes, egg, and butter.

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

Make the mixture

  1. Boil the salt fish and sliced potatoes together in plenty of water until the potatoes are soft.

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

  3. Add the butter, cream or milk, and beaten egg, mixing thoroughly.

Fry and serve

  1. Heat plenty of oil in a frying pan.

  2. Drop spoonfuls of the mixture into the hot oil and fry until golden 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. 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. Potato + buttertop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together6,456 recipes

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

  5. Potato + fishtop 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

Potatoes
Provide the bulk and soft, starchy body that makes the mixture light when mashed.
Salt fish
Supplies the main savoury flavour and the shredded texture of the balls.
Egg
Binds the mashed mixture so the balls hold their shape while frying.
Cream or milk
Adds moisture and softness to the mash, keeping the interior tender.
Butter
Adds richness and flavour, and helps the surface brown in the pan.

The step that matters

Drop spoonfuls into hot oil. If the oil is not hot enough, the balls absorb oil and turn greasy and loose instead of crisping. Hot oil seals the outside quickly so the mixture holds its shape.

Swap the potato

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