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Codfish Balls

A fried mixture of shredded codfish, mashed potatoes, eggs, milk, and butter.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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Why it works: Milk and butter are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 81,283 recipes. Both carry (z)-4-heptenal, which smells biscuit, cream. The science ↓

Codfish Balls

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the cod

  1. Soak the codfish for a day and night.

  2. Boil the codfish until it falls apart, then remove all small bones and shred the fish.

Make the mixture

  1. In a large bowl, combine the shredded codfish with the mashed potatoes.

  2. Boil the milk, then beat in the eggs, salt, and pepper.

  3. Mix the milk mixture with the codfish and potatoes, then add the butter.

Fry and serve

  1. Form the mixture into cakes and 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. Milk + buttertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together81,283 recipes

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

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

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

  3. Potato + milktop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together3,611 recipes

    Shared aroma: (e,z)-2,6-nonadienal (cucumber, melon).

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

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

  5. Egg + buttertop 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

Codfish
Provides the main flavour and the flaky body of the cakes.
Irish potatoes
Add starch and bulk, helping the mixture hold together as cakes.
Eggs
Bind the mixture and help it set when heated.
Milk
Adds moisture and softness to the mixture.
Butter
Adds richness and helps the cakes brown in the pan.

The step that matters

Forming and frying the cakes. The mixture is soft and wet, so it needs to be well combined and firm enough to shape. Frying in hot fat sets the egg and browns the surface, which holds the cakes together.

Swap the potato

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

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

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