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Fish Balls
One cup chopped codfish, whites of two eggs, the yolks of same; beat and mix well with two cups of mashed potatoes, and a spoonful of butter; work well and form into balls; fry in hot fat.
A standard New England salt-cod cake, written for cooks who kept a slab of salt fish in the pantry and cold mashed potato in the larder. The original assumes both, and says nothing about either.
- "Chopped codfish" means salt cod"Chopped codfish" probably means salt cod -- Most American fish-ball recipes of this type call for dried salt fish, though leftover cooked fresh cod was also used and the recipe does not say which. If using salt cod, it must be soaked to draw out the salt — several hours in cold water, changed two or three times — then simmered until it flakes and picked over for bones and skin before chopping. Fresh cod can be used but the balls will be blander and wetter.
- The potato is the hingeDry, cold mashed potato with little or no milk or cream in it works best. Warm or wet mash is much harder to form into a ball and is more likely to break apart in the fat. Riced or sieved potato, made ahead and cooled, gives the driest mixture.
- Egg whites and yolks, separatelyThe odd phrasing ("whites of two eggs, the yolks of same") may simply be a long-winded way of saying two whole eggs; the recipe itself only says to beat and mix. If you prefer, beating the whites first and folding them in gives a slightly puffier ball, but two whole eggs beaten together bind the mixture perfectly well.
- "A spoonful of butter"An unqualified "spoonful" is imprecise; a tablespoon, roughly half an ounce, is a reasonable reading for two cups of potato.
- Frying temperatureThe recipe says only "hot fat". By modern deep-frying practice that means around 375°F — hot enough that a ball browns in two to three minutes. Cooler fat lets the potato absorb grease and the balls are more likely to collapse. Fry three or four at a time so the temperature holds.
- ShapingGolf-ball size, formed with wet hands or two spoons. A brief chill in the refrigerator before frying makes them far less likely to break up, and is worth the wait.
- YieldAbout a dozen balls from these quantities; two or three per person as a breakfast or supper dish. Traditionally served with a pot of baked beans, brown bread, or nothing more than a wedge of lemon.
Salt cod fish balls were a fixture of the New England breakfast table well into the twentieth century, and the pairing with baked beans on a Sunday morning is one of the most durable regional habits in American cooking. The dish exists because salt cod kept indefinitely without ice — the Atlantic cod fishery had been salting and drying its catch for the European and Caribbean trade since the colonial period. A cook with a piece of hard-dried fish and yesterday's potatoes had a hot protein dish for pennies.