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Forcemeat for Veal, Turkey, Fowls or Rabbits

A mixture of finely scraped veal, ham, suet, and bread crumbs seasoned with parsley, salt, pepper, nutmeg or mace, bound with an egg yolk.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 12 ingredients
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Why it works: Parsley and nutmeg match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 3% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 5,062 recipes. Both carry 4'-methylacetophenone, which smells bitter almond. The science ↓

Forcemeat for Veal, Turkey, Fowls or Rabbits

Ingredients

Directions

  1. In a bowl, combine the veal, ham, suet, and bread crumbs, then add chopped parsley, salt, white pepper, and nutmeg or mace.

  2. Pound the mixture well and add the egg yolk to bind it.

  3. If desired, mix in finely chopped parboiled onion and sweet herbs.

  4. For boiled turkey, add the soft part of oysters or an anchovy.

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 + nutmegtop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together5,062 recipes

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

  2. Ham + breadtop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,536 recipes

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

  3. Veal + beeftop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together3,784 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,6-nonadienal (cucumber, green).

  4. Beef + breadtop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,032 recipes

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

  5. White pepper + nutmegtop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together1,375 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

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

What each ingredient does

Veal
Provides the lean meat base that gives the forcemeat its body and mouthfeel.
Suet
Adds fat that keeps the forcemeat moist and tender as it cooks.
Bread crumbs
Absorb liquid and help the forcemeat hold together with a soft texture.
Egg yolk
Binds the mixture so it holds its shape when cooked.
Ham
Contributes savoury, salty flavour to the meat mixture.

The step that matters

Pound the mixture well. Thorough pounding breaks down the meat fibres so the forcemeat becomes smooth and evenly bound, giving a fine, uniform texture rather than a coarse, crumbly one.

Swap the white pepper

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (veal, ham, beef, bread, parsley, nutmeg, egg):

  1. Marjoramfits better
  2. Thymefits better
  3. Tarragonfits better
  4. White pepperthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against veal, ham, beef, bread, parsley, nutmeg, 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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