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Fish Cakes

Fish cakes made with minced fish, potatoes, anchovy essence, Yorkshire relish, salt, beaten egg, and bread crumbs, fried and garnished.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 9 ingredients
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Why it works: Potato and parsley are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,855 recipes. Both carry 4'-methylacetophenone, which smells bitter almond. The science ↓

Fish Cakes

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the mixture

  1. Remove all bones and skin from the fish and mince it finely.

  2. Mix the fish and potatoes, then add the anchovy essence, Yorkshire Relish, and salt.

  3. Mash thoroughly.

  4. Divide the mixture into 24 tablespoonfuls and shape each into a ball or cake.

Coat and fry

  1. Brush each cake with beaten egg and cover with bread crumbs.

  2. Heat enough fat in a pan to completely cover the cakes.

  3. Fry until golden brown.

Serve

  1. Drain on clean paper, garnish with parsley or sliced lemon, 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. Potato + parsleytop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,855 recipes

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

  2. Anchovy + fishtop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together637 recipes

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

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

    Shared aroma: 2-undecenal (sweet).

  4. Anchovy + breadtop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,260 recipes

    Shared aroma: hexanol (green, fruity).

  5. Anchovy + eggtop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,330 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

Fish
Forms the main body of the cakes and supplies the flavour.
Potatoes
Bind the fish together and keep the cakes moist and tender inside.
1 beaten egg
Helps the bread crumbs adhere and sets to form a crisp coating.
Bread crumbs
Form a crisp, golden outer crust when fried.
Anchovy essence
Adds a savoury, salty depth to the fish mixture.

The step that matters

Shaping and coating the cakes. Mash the mixture thoroughly so it holds together, and press the egg-coated cakes firmly in crumbs. Loose or poorly bound cakes can break apart when they hit the hot fat.

Swap the potato

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

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

Fit is the average pairing score against anchovy, fish, egg, bread, parsley. 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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