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Cod Fish Cakes

A savory cake made from boiled cod, potatoes, butter, pepper, and egg, then fried.

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 ↓

Cod Fish Cakes

Ingredients

Directions

Cook the fish and potatoes

  1. Wash the codfish and place it in a stewpan with the potatoes.

  2. Cover with boiling water and boil for 25 minutes until the potatoes are soft.

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

Shape and fry

  1. Add the butter and pepper, then mix in the beaten egg when slightly cooled.

  2. Shape the mixture into tablespoons without smoothing too much.

  3. Fry in smoking hot lard for 1 minute, frying only five at a time to keep the fat hot.

  4. Drain on soft paper.

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

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

  3. Butter + eggtop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together118,967 recipes

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

  4. Butter + peppertop 21% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together85,593 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).

  5. Potato + eggtop 29% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,978 recipes

    Shared aroma: (e)-2-octenal (fatty, green).

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

What each ingredient does

Salt codfish
Provides the main savoury flavour and the flaky body of the cakes.
Potatoes
Adds starch and bulk, giving the mash a light, soft texture that holds the cakes together.
Egg
Binds the mixture so the cakes keep their shape when fried.
Butter
Adds fat and richness, softening the mash and improving its flavour.

The step that matters

Frying in smoking hot lard for one minute, five at a time. Hot fat sets the outside quickly so the cakes brown and absorb less grease. Crowding the pan cools the fat, which makes the cakes soggy and greasy.

Swap the potato

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

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

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