Name: Rissoles, or Croquettes
Ingredients: 1½ pounds cold meat (roast beef, fowl, or veal); a few slices of ham (raw or boiled); coarse sea salt; white pepper; nutmeg; a tiny shred of onion (chopped to powder); a little chopped parsley; 2 ounces butter; 1 tablespoon flour; 1 cup milk; 1 cup stock; 2 tablespoons bread crumbs; 3 eggs (lightly beaten); a little catsup, tomato sauce, or Worcestershire sauce; a little grated lemon peel (optional); lard (for frying)

Why it works: Nutmeg and parsley 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 ↓

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.

Nutmeg + parsleytop 3% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together5,062 recipes

Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
Nutmeg + flourtop 8% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together18,623 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Onion + parsleytop 9% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together25,843 recipes

Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together124,287 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Parsley + flourtop 12% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together16,675 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

Cold meat: Forms the main body of the rissole and gives it its meaty flavour.
Eggs: Bind the mixture together and set during cooking to hold the shape.
Butter: Enriches the base and adds richness and flavour to the binder.
Flour: Thickens the milk and stock into a sauce that helps hold the mixture together.
Milk: Adds moisture and softness to the thickened binder.
Bread crumbs: Absorb moisture in the filling and form a golden crust when fried.

The step that matters

Cool the mixture before shaping. A hot, soft mixture is too loose to hold its shape and can fall apart in the pan. Cooling lets the starch and egg firm up so the rissoles keep their form when coated and fried.

Swap the white pepper

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (meat, ham, nutmeg, onion, parsley, butter, flour):

Thymefits better
Capersfits better
Marjoramfits better
White pepperthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against meat, ham, nutmeg, onion, parsley, butter, flour. 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.

Rissoles, or Croquettes