Skip to main content
Main

Codfish Balls

Codfish Balls are made from soaked salt cod mixed with mashed potatoes, cream, pepper, and batter, then formed into balls and fried.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 5 ingredients
Jump to recipe ↓

Why it works: Potato and pepper are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 9% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 8,305 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓

Codfish Balls

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the cod

  1. Soak the salt cod in cold water for 30 minutes, then drain.

  2. Cover the cod with boiling water and let it stand on the back of the range for 15 minutes.

  3. Drain again and press out all excess water.

Shape and fry

  1. Mix the cod with the well-beaten mashed potatoes and add the cream, pepper, and batter.

  2. Beat the mixture well and form it into balls.

  3. Roll the balls in egg and breadcrumbs (or in egg and flour) and fry in boiling lard until well browned.

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

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

  2. Potato + creamtop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together2,481 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-one (mushroom, metallic).

  3. Cream + peppertop 23% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together21,449 recipes

    Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).

Cream and pepper barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 21,449 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

Salt cod
Provides the main savoury fish flavour and the flaky body of the balls.
Mashed potatoes
Bind the fish together and give the balls a soft, tender interior.
Cream
Adds moisture and richness so the mixture stays soft rather than dry.
Batter
Helps hold the mixture together and adds body to the balls.

The step that matters

Press out all excess water from the cod. Any water left in the cod dilutes the mixture and makes the balls loose and soggy, so they may break apart or fry unevenly in the hot lard.

Swap the potato

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

  1. Spinachfits better
  2. Capsicumfits about as well
  3. Potatothe original
  4. Horseradishfits less well

Fit is the average pairing score against cream, pepper. 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.

More codfish balls recipes

Salt 3 See all 201 →

You might also like

Potato CroquettesPotato Croquettes255 recipesPotato RollsPotato Rolls78 recipesPotato ChipsPotato Chips53 recipesSweet Potato CroquettesSweet Potato Croquettes53 recipes