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Soyer's Recipe for Force Meats

A mixture of veal, beef suet, panada, spices, and eggs, formed into a purée and poached.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
By F. L. Gillette and Hugo Ziemann · From a historical cookbook (Project Gutenberg) · 7 ingredients
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Why it works: Pepper and nutmeg match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 13,015 recipes. Both carry 4'-methylacetophenone, which smells bitter almond. The science ↓

Soyer's Recipe for Force Meats

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the veal

  1. Take 1-1/2 lbs of lean veal from the fillet and cut it into long thin slices.

  2. Scrape the veal with a knife until only the fibre remains.

  3. Put the veal in a mortar and pound it for ten minutes or until it becomes a purée.

  4. Pass the purée through a wire sieve (use the remainder in stock).

Make the forcemeat

  1. Take 1 lb of good fresh beef suet, skin it, shred and chop it very fine.

  2. Put the suet in a mortar and pound it.

  3. Add 6 oz of panada (bread soaked in milk and boiled until nearly dry) to the suet.

  4. Pound the panada and suet together well.

  5. Add the veal purée to the mixture.

  6. Season with 1 teaspoon of salt, 1/4 teaspoon of pepper, and half that amount of nutmeg.

  7. Work all together well.

  8. Add four eggs, one by one, continually pounding the contents of the mortar.

Test and finish

  1. When well mixed, take a small piece in a spoon and poach it in boiling water.

  2. If it is delicate, firm, and of a good flavor, it is ready for use.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

96Calories
7 gProtein
6 gFat
3 gCarbs
What these numbers assume: 4 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Egg1 large egg (50g)78
Nutmeg1 tsp ground (2.2g)12
Black Pepper1 tsp ground (2.3g)6
Salt1 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 F. L. Gillette and Hugo Ziemann. Recipe from a historical cookbook (Project Gutenberg).

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.

  1. Pepper + nutmegtop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together13,015 recipes

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

  2. Egg + nutmegtop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together24,744 recipes

    Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).

  3. Pepper + eggtop 33% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together50,580 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

Egg and nutmeg barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 24,744 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.

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

What each ingredient does

Veal (in the method)
Provides the lean, finely pounded base that gives the forcemeat its delicate body.
Beef suet (in the method)
Adds fat that keeps the forcemeat moist and tender after cooking.
Panada (in the method)
Bread soaked in milk binds the mixture and helps it stay light and smooth.
Eggs
Bind the mixture and help it set firm when poached or cooked.

The step that matters

Adding the eggs one at a time while pounding. Eggs bind the forcemeat, but adding them all at once can split the emulsion of fat and meat. Adding them gradually while pounding lets each addition blend in, giving a smooth, firm texture.

Swap the nutmeg

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

  1. Parsleyfits better
  2. Dillfits about as well
  3. Tarragonfits about as well
  4. Nutmegthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against 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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