Why it works: Potato and pork are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,668 recipes. Both carry sotolon, which smells curry, maple. The science ↓
Fish Balls
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the cod
Soak the codfish overnight.
In the morning, place the codfish in cold water and bring to a boil.
Remove the codfish, drain, and pick it over to remove bones, then chop finely.
Form and fry
Add the hot mashed potatoes and the beaten egg to the codfish, and mix thoroughly.
Form the mixture into balls.
Fry the balls in equal parts pork fat and lard until golden brown.
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.
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Potato + porktop 5% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together2,668 recipes
Shared aroma: sotolon (curry, maple).
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Potato + eggtop 29% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together4,978 recipes
Shared aroma: (e)-2-octenal (fatty, green).
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Egg + porktop 30% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together10,387 recipes
Shared aroma: (e,e)-2,4-decadienal (fatty, deep fried).
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 fish balls.
- Hot mashed potatoes
- Adds moisture and starch that bind the fish and keep the balls tender.
- Egg
- Acts as a binder that holds the mixture together when shaped and fried.
The step that matters
Fry the balls until golden brown. Frying at a steady heat browns the outside and sets the surface so the balls hold their shape, while the inside heats through. Too cool a fat makes them greasy and loose; too hot a fat browns the outside before the centre is hot.
Swap the potato
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (egg, pork):
- Potatothe original
- Asparagusfits about as well
- Capsicumfits less well
- Chivefits less well
Fit is the average pairing score against egg, pork. 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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