Why it works: Butter and flour are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 12% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 124,287 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓
Meat Balls
Ingredients
Directions
Make the meatballs
Mix the chopped cold meat with 1 to 2 eggs and some butter.
Season with coarse sea salt and pepper, then sprinkle with flour.
Roll the mixture into balls.
Fry
Fry the balls in hot lard until brown, similar to frying doughnuts.
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.
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Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Egg + flourtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together106,462 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Meat + buttertop 16% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together7,594 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
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Egg + buttertop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together118,967 recipes
Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).
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Pepper + flourtop 19% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together50,459 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Butter and flour barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 124,287 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
- Eggs
- Bind the meat mixture so the balls hold their shape while frying.
- Flour
- Absorbs moisture from the mixture and helps the outside brown when fried.
- Butter
- Adds fat and richness, keeping the meatballs moist and tender.
- Cold meat
- Forms the main body of the meatballs, giving them their savory flavor and texture.
The step that matters
Fry the balls in hot lard until brown. Lard must be hot enough to brown the outside quickly. If it is too cool, the balls absorb fat and turn greasy before they cook through.
“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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