Name: Forcemeat for Stuffing Boned Fowls
Ingredients: one-fourth cup of bread; one-fourth cup of melted butter; one teaspoonful chopped parsley; one teaspoonful of onions; one-fourth teaspoonful each of sage; one-half teaspoonful salt; one stalk of celery; 98 rocky mountain cook book

Why it works: Parsley and celery match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 6,810 recipes. Both carry 4'-methylacetophenone, which smells bitter almond. The science ↓

Forcemeat for Stuffing Boned Fowls

Ingredients

one-fourth cup of bread
one-fourth cup of melted butter
one teaspoonful chopped parsley
one teaspoonful of onions
one-fourth teaspoonful each of sage
one-half teaspoonful salt
one stalk of celery
98 rocky mountain cook book

Directions

Use the cooked or uncooked meat of another fowl or veal, or a part of both; chop fine.
To every cup of meat add one-fourth cup of bread or cracker crumbs.
Add one-fourth cup of melted butter, one teaspoonful chopped parsley, one teaspoonful of onions, chopped fine, one-fourth teaspoonful each of sage, thyme, pepper, one-half teaspoonful salt, and one stalk of celery, chopped fine.
Moisten with stock the meat was cooked in, or leftover gravy.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

610Calories

15 gProtein

13 gFat

107 gCarbs

What these numbers assume: 7 portions

Ingredient	Portion assumed	kcal
Flour	1 cup (125g) all-purpose	455
Butter	1 tbsp (14g)	102
Onion	1 medium (110g)	44
Celery	1 stalk (40g)	6
Sage	1 tsp ground (0.7g)	2
Parsley	1 tbsp chopped fresh (3.8g)	1
Salt	1 tsp (6g)	0

One typical portion per ingredient; the recipe's quantities are not counted. A rough guide only, not for medical or dietary planning.

By Norton, Caroline Trask. 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. See the original page.

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.

Parsley + celerytop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together6,810 recipes

Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
Parsley + sagetop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together1,445 recipes

Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).
Sage + celerytop 5% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together723 recipes

Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).
Bread + buttertop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together27,232 recipes

Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).
Onion + celerytop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together18,518 recipes

Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

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

What each ingredient does

Meat (in the method): Forms the bulk of the forcemeat and gives it its savoury, meaty body.
Bread or cracker crumbs: Absorbs liquid and fat, giving the mixture body and a soft, binding texture.
Melted butter: Adds fat that coats the crumbs and meat, enriching flavour and keeping the stuffing moist.
Onions: Contributes aromatic flavour that deepens the savoury taste of the stuffing.
Celery: Adds a fresh, aromatic note and some crisp texture to the mixture.

Swap the onion

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (bread, butter, parsley, sage, celery):

Carrotfits better
Shallotfits better
Leekfits better
Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against bread, butter, parsley, sage, celery. 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.