Name: Rissoles of Cold Beef, Mutton, or Veal
Ingredients: 2 cups cold beef or mutton, minced; Salt and pepper to taste; 2 tablespoons mushroom or walnut catsup; 2 eggs, yolks only; 1 cup seasoned bread crumbs; Oil for frying

Why it works: Beef and mushroom are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 4% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 3,232 recipes. Both carry 2,4-nonadienal, which smells fatty, green. The science ↓

Rissoles of Cold Beef, Mutton, or Veal

Ingredients

2 cups cold beef or mutton, minced
Salt and pepper to taste
2 tablespoons mushroom or walnut catsup
2 eggs, yolks only
1 cup seasoned bread crumbs
Oil for frying

Directions

Prepare

Combine minced cold beef or mutton with salt, pepper, and catsup in a bowl.
Form the mixture into small cakes.

Coat and fry

Dip each cake into the egg yolks, then coat with seasoned bread crumbs.
Heat oil in a frying pan and fry the cakes 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.

Beef + mushroomtop 4% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together3,232 recipes

Shared aroma: 2,4-nonadienal (fatty, green).
Beef + peppertop 10% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together18,971 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Mushroom + breadtop 10% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together2,536 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Pepper + mushroomtop 11% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together13,580 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Beef + breadtop 13% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together4,032 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-acetyl-1-pyrroline (popcorn, roasted).

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

What each ingredient does

Cold beef or mutton: Forms the main body of the rissoles and provides the savoury flavour.
Egg yolks: Bind the meat and help the bread crumb coating stick.
Seasoned bread crumbs: Form a crisp, golden coating that browns when fried.
Mushroom or walnut catsup: Adds savoury, umami depth to the meat mixture.

The step that matters

Frying the coated cakes until golden brown on both sides. Frying in enough hot oil browns the bread crumb coating through Maillard browning and crisps it, while the meat cooks through. Too little heat leaves the coating pale and greasy.

“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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Rissoles of Cold Beef, Mutton, or Veal