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Codfish Croquettes

A fried dish of mashed potato and shredded codfish formed into croquettes and coated with breadcrumbs.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 ingredients
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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 Croquettes

Ingredients

Directions

Make the mixture

  1. In a bowl, combine hot mashed potatoes and hot codfish.

  2. Add cream, beaten egg, and pepper; mix well.

Shape and fry

  1. Form the mixture into rolls and coat with bread crumbs.

  2. Heat lard in a frying pan and fry the croquettes until golden brown, using a wire basket if possible.

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. Egg + breadtop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together22,662 recipes

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

  3. Potato + breadtop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together434 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-acetyl-1-pyrroline (popcorn, roasted).

  4. Bread + peppertop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together20,964 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

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

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

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

What each ingredient does

Mashed potatoes
Provide the bulk and starch that hold the croquettes together when hot.
Codfish
Supplies the main flavor and firm, flaky texture of the filling.
Egg
Binds the mixture so it holds its shape when formed and fried.
Cream
Adds moisture and richness to keep the filling soft inside.
Bread crumbs
Form a coating that browns and crisps during frying.

The step that matters

Combine and shape while the potatoes and fish are hot. Hot potato starch softens and sticks to the fish and egg, helping the mixture bind. As it cools, the starch firms up and the mixture becomes stiff and crumbly, making the rolls hard to shape and likely to break apart in the pan.

Swap the potato

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

  1. Spinachfits better
  2. Capsicumfits better
  3. Asparagusfits better
  4. Potatothe original

Fit is the average pairing score against egg, cream, bread, 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.

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