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Rissoles of Mutton

A fried patty made from shredded mutton, breadcrumbs, onion, parsley, egg, salt, and pepper.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 ingredients
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Why it works: Parsley and pepper match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 34,122 recipes. Both carry 4'-methylacetophenone, which smells bitter almond. The science ↓

Rissoles of Mutton

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Shred the leftover mutton finely.

  2. Chop the onion and parsley, then mix with the mutton.

Shape the rissoles

  1. Add breadcrumbs, salt, pepper, and a beaten egg to the mixture.

  2. Form the mixture into small cakes or rissoles.

Fry

  1. Heat oil in a pan and fry the rissoles until golden brown on both sides.

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. Parsley + peppertop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together34,122 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

  2. Onion + parsleytop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together25,843 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).

  3. Onion + peppertop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together68,474 recipes

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

  4. Mutton + peppertop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together5,442 recipes

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

  5. Mutton + oniontop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together4,531 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

Leftover mutton
Provides the main meat and flavour base for the rissoles.
Breadcrumbs
Absorb moisture and help the mixture hold its shape.
Egg
Binds the mixture together so the rissoles keep their form when fried.
Onion
Adds savoury aroma and moisture to the filling.

The step that matters

Forming and frying the rissoles. If the mixture is too wet, the rissoles can fall apart in the pan. Breadcrumbs and egg bind the mince, and the oil must be hot enough to brown the outside quickly and seal it.

Swap the onion

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

  1. Carrotfits better
  2. Shallotfits better
  3. Spinachfits better
  4. Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against mutton, parsley, pepper, egg. 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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