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Codfish Balls

Codfish balls are made by mixing pickled codfish with butter, mashed potato, cream, and pepper, forming balls, coating with egg and breadcrumbs, and frying.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 5 ingredients
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Why it works: Butter and cream are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 8% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 41,516 recipes. Both carry delta-dodecalactone, which smells sweet, creamy. The science ↓

Codfish Balls

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the codfish

  1. Pour boiling water over the codfish to cover and let it sit for 15 minutes.

  2. Drain the codfish, pressing out all the water.

  3. Mix the codfish, butter, mashed potato, cream, and pepper together.

  4. Form the mixture into balls.

Coat and fry

  1. Coat the balls with slightly beaten egg, then with bread crumbs.

  2. Fry the balls in deep hot fat until golden brown.

  3. Drain and serve hot.

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. Butter + creamtop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together41,516 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).

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

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

  3. Butter + potatotop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together6,456 recipes

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

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

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

  5. Butter + peppertop 21% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together85,593 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).

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

What each ingredient does

Pickled salt codfish
Provides the main savory flavor and the flaky body of the balls.
Mashed potato
Binds the mixture and adds moisture and softness to the interior.
Butter
Adds richness and moisture to the mixture.
Cream
Adds moisture and a smoother, softer texture to the mixture.

The step that matters

Draining the codfish thoroughly. Soaked salt cod holds water, and any left in the mixture makes the balls soggy and loose, so they may not hold their shape or brown well in the hot fat.

“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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