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Codfish Cakes

Codfish cakes are small, pan‑fried cakes made from boiled cod, mashed potatoes, eggs or milk, butter, pepper, flour, and lard or beef drippings.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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Why it works: Potato and beef are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 8% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,052 recipes. Both carry sotolon, which smells curry, maple. The science ↓

Codfish Cakes

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Boil the soaked cod until cooked, then chop it finely.

  2. Boil and mash an equal quantity of potatoes.

  3. Combine the chopped cod and mashed potatoes, then moisten with beaten eggs or milk, and add a bit of butter and a little pepper.

  4. Form the mixture into small, round cakes about ½ inch thick.

  5. Coat the outside of the cakes with flour.

Fry

  1. Heat lard or beef drippings until boiling hot, then fry the cakes gently until they are a delicate brown, turning them once.

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 + beeftop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,052 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. Pepper + beeftop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together18,971 recipes

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

  4. Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together124,287 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

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

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

Butter and flour barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 124,287 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.

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

What each ingredient does

Soaked cod
Provides the main fish flavour and the bulk of the cake.
Potatoes
Mashed starch binds the fish and gives the cakes a soft, tender body.
Beaten eggs or milk
Moistens the mixture and helps bind the cod and potato together.
Butter
Adds richness and fat, contributing flavour and a softer texture.
Flour
Coating forms a thin dry layer that promotes even browning when fried.

The step that matters

Fry gently in hot fat. The fat must be hot enough to brown the coating quickly, but frying gently keeps the cakes from scorching before the interior is heated through. Turning once gives an even golden surface.

Swap the potato

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

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

Fit is the average pairing score against egg, butter, pepper, flour, beef. 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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