Why it works: Bread and egg are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 13% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 22,662 recipes. Both carry (e)-2-octenal, which smells fatty, green. The science ↓
Forcemeat Balls for Fish Soups
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the filling
Pick the meat from the shell of the lobster and pound it with the soft parts in a mortar.
Add the celery, the yolk of a hard-boiled egg, seasoning, and bread crumbs.
Continue pounding until the mixture is well combined.
Shape and fry
Warm the butter until it liquefies.
Whisk the eggs well and combine them with the pounded lobster meat.
Shape into balls about an inch in diameter.
Fry until a nice pale brown.
Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)
Counts 6 of 8 ingredients. The other 2 aren't in our nutrition table and add nothing above, so the real totals are higher.
What these numbers assume: 6 portions
| Ingredient | Portion assumed | kcal |
|---|---|---|
| Flour | 1 cup (125g) all-purpose | 455 |
| Shrimp | 100g cooked | 99 |
| Egg | 1 large egg (50g) | 78 |
| Celery | 1 stalk (40g) | 6 |
| Cayenne | 1 tsp (1.8g) | 6 |
| Salt | 1 tsp (6g) | 0 |
| Soup | not in our table | 0 |
| Mace | not in our table | 0 |
One typical portion per ingredient; the recipe's quantities are not counted. A rough guide only, not for medical or dietary planning.
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.
-
Bread + eggtop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together22,662 recipes
Shared aroma: (e)-2-octenal (fatty, green).
-
Celery + breadtop 16% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together2,110 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
-
Celery + macetop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together2,769 recipes
Shared aroma: myristicin (spice, warm).
-
Bread + lobstertop 20% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together736 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-acetyl-1-pyrroline (popcorn, roasted).
-
Celery + lobstertop 24% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together251 recipes
Shared aroma: octanal (fat, soap).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Lobster
- Provides the main body and flavour of the meatballs.
- Eggs
- Bind the pounded lobster so the balls hold their shape.
- Bread crumbs
- Absorb moisture and give the mixture body so it holds together.
- Celery
- Adds aromatic flavour and moisture to the filling.
The step that matters
Fry until a nice pale brown. Frying at a steady heat browns the outside through the Maillard reaction while the inside sets. Too hot a pan darkens the surface before the centre cooks, and too cool a pan leaves the balls greasy and soft.
Swap the mace
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (celery, bread, lobster, egg):
- Parsleyfits better
- Tarragonfits better
- Capersfits better
- Macethe original
Fit is the average pairing score against celery, bread, lobster, 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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