Why it works: Butter and bread are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 27,232 recipes. Both carry delta-decalactone, which smells sweet, creamy. The science ↓
Force Meat Balls
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
In a bowl, combine the chopped meat, egg, butter, and bread crumbs.
Moisten the mixture with milk or consomme until it holds together.
Shape the mixture into small balls.
Cook and serve
Fry the meatballs in butter until browned.
Add the cooked meatballs to the soup.
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.
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Butter + breadtop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together27,232 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).
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Butter + milktop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together81,283 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
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Bread + milktop 11% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together11,466 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-undecenal (sweet).
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Egg + breadtop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together22,662 recipes
Shared aroma: (e)-2-octenal (fatty, green).
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Meat + breadtop 14% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together2,924 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Chopped meat
- Provides the main body and savory flavor of the meatballs.
- Egg
- Binds the mixture so the meatballs hold their shape while cooking.
- Bread crumbs
- Absorb liquid and help keep the meatballs tender rather than dense.
- Butter
- Adds richness and helps the outside brown when frying.
- Milk or consomme
- Moistens the mixture so it binds together and stays juicy.
The step that matters
Moisten the mixture until it holds together. Too little liquid leaves the mixture crumbly and it falls apart when shaped or fried, while too much makes it soft and hard to shape. The egg and crumbs bind it, so adding liquid gradually until it just holds together gives a firm but tender meatball.
“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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