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Potato Balls

Fried balls made from mashed potatoes, egg, breadcrumbs, and seasonings.

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

Why it works: Pepper and parsley match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 34,122 recipes. Both carry 4'-methylacetophenone, which smells bitter almond. The science ↓

Potato Balls

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Boil and mash the potatoes.

  2. Season with salt, pepper, and minced parsley if desired.

  3. Roll the mixture into small balls.

Coat and fry

  1. Dip each ball in beaten egg, then coat with breadcrumbs.

  2. Fry in hot oil or dripping until light brown, about 10 minutes.

  3. Drain on a cloth or paper, then serve on a napkin.

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.

Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it

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

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

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

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

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

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

  4. Parsley + eggtop 21% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together18,765 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).

  5. Potato + eggtop 29% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,978 recipes

    Shared aroma: (e)-2-octenal (fatty, green).

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

What each ingredient does

Mashed potatoes
Form the main body of the balls, giving a soft, moist interior.
Beaten egg
Acts as a binder and helps the breadcrumb coating adhere to the balls.
Breadcrumbs
Form a crisp outer crust that browns when fried.
Oil or dripping
Conducts heat to fry the coating, browning and crisping the surface.

The step that matters

Fry in hot oil or dripping until light brown. Oil that is not hot enough lets the coating soak up fat before it sets, producing greasy, pale balls. Hot fat sets the breadcrumb crust quickly and drives browning, so the inside heats through while the outside stays crisp.

Swap the parsley

The recipe marks parsley as optional. How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (potato, pepper, egg):

  1. Parsleythe original
  2. Dillfits about as well
  3. Nutmegfits less well
  4. Thymefits less well

Fit is the average pairing score against potato, pepper, 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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