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Fish Balls

Fish balls made from mashed cold fish, potatoes, butter, egg, and seasonings, then coated in breadcrumbs and fried.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 10 ingredients
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Why it works: Anchovy and sauce are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,057 recipes. Both carry ethanol, which smells alcoholic, ethereal. The science ↓

Fish Balls

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the mixture

  1. Remove bones and skin from the cold fish.

  2. Mash the fish and mix with an equal amount of mashed potatoes.

  3. Add melted butter, beaten egg, salt, pepper, and chopped parsley or anchovy sauce. Mix thoroughly with a fork.

Shape and coat

  1. With floured hands, roll the mixture into balls.

  2. Brush the balls with egg.

  3. Roll the balls in breadcrumbs.

Fry and serve

  1. Fry the balls in hot oil until golden brown.

  2. Serve the balls on a hot plate.

  3. Garnish with parsley.

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. Anchovy + saucetop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,057 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  2. Pepper + parsleytop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together34,122 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

  3. Potato + parsleytop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,855 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

  4. Fish + anchovytop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together637 recipes

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

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

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

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

What each ingredient does

Cold fish
Forms the main body of the balls and gives them their flavour.
Potatoes
Mashed potato binds the fish and keeps the mixture soft and moist.
Butter
Adds richness and moisture to the mixture.
Egg
Binds the mixture together and, brushed on, helps the crumbs brown.
Breadcrumbs
Form a crisp, golden coating during frying.

The step that matters

Fry the balls in hot oil until golden brown. If the oil is not hot enough, the coating absorbs oil and turns greasy before it browns, and the soft centre may not set. Good heat gives a crisp crust quickly.

Swap the potato

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

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

Fit is the average pairing score against fish, butter, pepper, parsley, anchovy, sauce, 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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