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Fish Cakes

A savory dish of finely chopped fish mixed with mashed potatoes, bound with egg and breadcrumbs, then fried.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 9 ingredients
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Why it works: Butter and bread are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 27,232 recipes. Both carry delta-decalactone, which smells sweet, creamy. The science ↓

Fish Cakes

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the filling

  1. Chop the fish finely.

  2. Mash the potatoes and mix with the fish. Season with salt and pepper.

  3. Melt the butter or dripping in a pan, add the fish mixture, and heat with the milk.

Shape and coat

  1. Shape the mixture into small flat cakes.

  2. Beat the egg on a plate, then coat the cakes in egg and breadcrumbs.

Fry and serve

  1. Fry the cakes in deep hot fat until golden brown.

  2. Drain carefully, garnish with fried parsley, and serve hot.

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. Butter + breadtop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together27,232 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).

  2. Butter + milktop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together81,283 recipes

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

  3. Potato + peppertop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together8,305 recipes

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

  4. Potato + milktop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together3,611 recipes

    Shared aroma: (e,z)-2,6-nonadienal (cucumber, melon).

  5. Fish + breadtop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,668 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-undecenal (sweet).

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

What each ingredient does

Fish
Provides the main body and flavour of the cakes.
Cooked potatoes
Add bulk and softness, helping the cakes hold together while staying tender.
Butter or dripping
Adds fat for richness and helps carry flavour through the mixture.
Egg
Coats the cakes so the breadcrumbs stick and the surface sets and browns.
Bread crumbs
Form a crisp, golden outer crust when fried.

The step that matters

Fry in deep hot fat until golden brown. If the fat is not hot enough, the coating absorbs oil and turns greasy instead of crisping quickly. Hot fat sets the egg and crumbs fast, keeping the cakes intact and crisp.

Swap the potato

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

  1. Capsicumfits about as well
  2. Potatothe original
  3. Asparagusfits about as well
  4. Tomatofits less well

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