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Codfish Balls

A fried ball made from salt codfish, potatoes, butter, cayenne pepper, eggs, and coated in flour or crackers.

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 ↓

Codfish Balls

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the mixture

  1. In a saucepan, combine salt codfish and raw potatoes; cover with water and bring to a boil.

  2. Drain the water, then pour fresh boiling water over the mixture and cook until tender.

  3. Drain again and mash the mixture until fine.

  4. Stir in butter, cayenne pepper, and beaten eggs until well combined.

Shape and fry

  1. Form the mixture into balls, then roll in flour or crushed crackers.

  2. Drop the balls into boiling lard 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. Potato + peppertop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together8,305 recipes

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

  2. Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together124,287 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

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

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

  4. Potato + flourtop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together5,355 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  5. Egg + flourtop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together106,462 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

Butter and flour barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 124,287 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.

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

What each ingredient does

Salt codfish
Provides the savoury, salty flavour that defines the dish.
Raw potatoes
Adds starch and bulk, giving the balls a soft, tender interior.
Eggs
Bind the mashed mixture so the balls hold their shape while frying.
Butter
Adds fat and richness, keeping the interior moist and tender.
Flour or rolled crackers
Forms a dry outer coating that browns and crisps in the hot lard.

The step that matters

Drain and re-boil the codfish and potatoes. Changing the water removes excess salt from the codfish, so the balls taste balanced rather than harshly salty. Cooking until fully tender ensures the mash is smooth and easy to shape.

Swap the potato

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

  1. Chivefits better
  2. Shallotfits better
  3. Asparagusfits better
  4. Potatothe original

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