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Cod Fish Balls

A fried ball made from mashed cod, potatoes, butter, egg, salt, and pepper.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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Cod Fish Balls

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 ↓

Cod Fish Balls

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the cod and potatoes

  1. Wash the cod without soaking it.

  2. Boil the cod and potatoes together until the potatoes are cooked.

  3. Drain and mash the cod and potatoes together.

Make the mixture

  1. Add butter, salt, pepper, and the egg to the mixture.

  2. Beat the mixture until light and creamy.

Fry

  1. Drop large spoonfuls of the mixture into boiling lard and fry 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.

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

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

  2. Potato + walnuttop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together342 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-undecenal (sweet).

  3. Walnut + peppertop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together3,039 recipes

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

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

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

  5. Walnut + buttertop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together6,832 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

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

What each ingredient does

Cod
Provides the main fish flavor and the bulk of the filling.
Potatoes
Bind the mixture and give the fish balls a soft, starchy interior.
Butter
Adds richness and moisture to the mashed mixture.
Egg
Binds the mixture so the balls hold their shape while frying.
Lard
Conducts heat for frying and browns the outside to a golden crust.

The step that matters

Frying in boiling lard. The lard must be hot enough when the spoonfuls go in. Hot fat sets the egg and crisps the surface quickly, so the balls hold their shape and brown instead of absorbing grease and falling apart.

Swap the walnut

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

  1. Beansfits about as well
  2. Walnutthe original
  3. Peasfits about as well
  4. Almondfits about as well

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