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Salt Fish Balls

Salt fish balls are fried balls made from salted fish, potatoes, butter, egg, and pepper.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 5 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 ↓

Salt Fish Balls

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare and boil

  1. Wash the fish and remove bones, then cut into half‑inch pieces.

  2. Pare the potatoes, then place the fish and potatoes in a stew pan.

  3. Cover with boiling water and boil until the potatoes are soft.

Mash and season

  1. Drain the water, then mash and beat the fish and potatoes until very light.

  2. Add the butter and pepper, mixing well.

  3. When slightly cooled, add the beaten egg and more salt if needed.

Fry

  1. Take tablespoonfuls of the mixture and drop them into hot lard to fry 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. Potato + peppertop 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. Potato + buttertop 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

Salt fish
Provides the salty, savory flavor that defines the dish.
Potatoes
Starch gives the mixture bulk and a light, fluffy texture when mashed and beaten.
Egg
Binds the mixture so the balls hold their shape while frying.
Butter
Adds fat for richness and a smoother, softer mouthfeel.

The step that matters

Frying in hot lard. The fat must be hot enough to set the outside quickly. This forms a browned crust and keeps the balls from soaking up excess grease and turning heavy.

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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