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Fish Balls

Fish Balls made from shredded salt fish, potatoes, egg, butter, and seasonings, then fried.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 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 ↓

Fish Balls

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Place the peeled potatoes in a large pan and sprinkle the shredded fish over them.

  2. Cover with boiling water and cook for 30 minutes.

  3. Drain the water and mash the fish and potatoes until fine and light.

Shape and season

  1. Add the butter, salt, pepper, and egg; mix well for 3 minutes.

  2. Shape the mixture into smooth balls about the size of a small egg.

Fry

  1. Heat the Cottolene until smoking hot, then fry the balls until browned, about 5 minutes.

  2. Do not crowd the frying basket; fry 6 to 8 balls at a time.

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. 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

Salt fish
Provides the main savory flavor and is mashed into the potato to form the body of the ball.
Potatoes
Starch bulks out the mixture and gives the balls a light, fluffy texture when mashed.
Egg
Binds the mashed mixture so the balls hold their shape while frying.
Butter
Adds richness and moisture to the mashed mixture.

The step that matters

Fry in small batches in very hot fat. Frying in fat that is smoking hot browns the outside quickly and seals it, so the balls absorb less grease. Crowding the basket drops the fat temperature, which makes the balls soggy and pale.

Swap the potato

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