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Fish Fritters

A fried dish made from cooked fish, bread crumbs, mashed potatoes, cream, eggs, and spices.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 ingredients
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Why it works: Anchovy and sauce are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,057 recipes. Both carry ethanol, which smells alcoholic, ethereal. The science ↓

Fish Fritters

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the fish

  1. Remove all bones from the fish and pound it in a mortar.

  2. Mix the fish with equal parts bread crumbs and mashed potatoes.

Make the cakes

  1. Combine cream, beaten eggs, Cayenne pepper, and anchovy sauce in a bowl.

  2. Add the cream mixture to the fish mixture and mix until well combined.

  3. Form the mixture into small cakes.

Fry

  1. Fry the cakes in boiling lard 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. Anchovy + saucetop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,057 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  2. Fish + anchovytop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together637 recipes

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

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

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

  4. Cream + saucetop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,787 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  5. Fish + breadtop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,668 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-undecenal (sweet).

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

What each ingredient does

Cooked fish
Provides the main flavor and bulk of the fritters.
Bread crumbs
Absorb moisture and help the mixture hold its shape.
Mashed potatoes
Add body and softness, keeping the cakes tender inside.
Eggs
Bind the mixture together so the cakes hold their shape while frying.
Cream
Adds moisture and richness, keeping the cakes tender.

The step that matters

Fry the cakes in boiling lard until golden brown. The lard must be hot enough that the outside browns and seals quickly. If the fat is too cool, the cakes absorb more grease and can fall apart or turn heavy before they set.

Swap the potato

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

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

Fit is the average pairing score against fish, bread, cream, egg, pepper, anchovy, sauce. 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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