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Fish Cakes

Fish cakes made from boiled salt cod, potatoes, eggs, butter, and pepper, then fried.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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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 Cakes

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the mixture

  1. Boil the picked salt codfish and raw potatoes in cold water until the potatoes are done.

  2. Remove from heat and drain all the water.

  3. Mash the mixture well with a masher.

  4. Add the butter, beaten eggs, and pepper; mix well.

Form and fry

  1. Form the mixture into cakes.

  2. Fry the cakes in pork fat until golden brown.

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 + porktop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,668 recipes

    Shared aroma: sotolon (curry, maple).

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

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

  3. Potato + buttertop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together6,456 recipes

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

  4. Butter + porktop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together13,933 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-furfurylthiol (coffee, roasted).

  5. Pepper + porktop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together22,121 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

Salt codfish
Provides the main savoury flavour and body of the cakes.
Potatoes
Bulk the cakes and give a soft, starchy texture once mashed.
Eggs
Bind the mixture so the cakes hold their shape.
Butter
Adds richness and moisture to the mashed mixture.

The step that matters

Drain all the water before mashing. Excess water left in the boiled potatoes and fish dilutes the mash and makes it soft and loose, so the cakes may not hold their shape or brown well in the fat.

Swap the potato

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

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

Fit is the average pairing score against egg, butter, pepper, 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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