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Dropped Fish Balls

A dish of fish and potato mixture formed into balls and 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 ↓

Dropped Fish Balls

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the mixture

  1. Boil the potatoes in a pot of water.

  2. Place the fish on top of the potatoes and cover with boiling water.

  3. Boil for 30 minutes, then drain and mash the fish and potatoes together until fine and light.

  4. Add the butter, pepper, and beaten eggs to the mixture.

Fry the balls

  1. Heat a deep kettle of boiling fat.

  2. Dip a tablespoon in the hot fat, then scoop a spoonful of the mixture.

  3. Drop the spoonful into the boiling fat and cook until brown, about 2 minutes.

  4. Do not crowd the balls and ensure the fat is hot enough.

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

Potatoes
Form the bulk of the mixture and, once mashed, give the balls a soft, light body.
Eggs
Bind the mashed mixture so the balls hold their shape while frying.
Butter
Adds richness and moisture to the mashed mixture.
Raw fish
Provides the main flavour and, cooked and mashed, becomes part of the soft interior.

The step that matters

Keeping the fat hot and the pan uncrowded. Hot fat seals the outside quickly so the balls brown and absorb less grease. Crowding the pot drops the fat temperature, so the balls steam and turn soggy instead of crisp.

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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