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Forcemeat of Beef

A savory beef forcemeat made with mashed potatoes, herbs, and eggs, shaped into balls and fried.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 ingredients
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Why it works: Pepper and parsley match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 34,122 recipes. Both carry 4'-methylacetophenone, which smells bitter almond. The science ↓

Forcemeat of Beef

Ingredients

Directions

Make the forcemeat

  1. In a bowl, mix cold mashed potato, minced beef, chopped herbs, pepper, salt, and eggs until a paste forms.

  2. Shape the mixture into balls.

Fry and serve

  1. In a skillet, heat butter over medium heat and fry the balls until they are rich brown.

  2. Garnish with fried parsley before serving.

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.

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 + parsleytop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together34,122 recipes

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

  2. Potato + parsleytop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,855 recipes

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

  3. Potato + beeftop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,052 recipes

    Shared aroma: sotolon (curry, maple).

  4. Potato + peppertop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together8,305 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  5. Beef + peppertop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together18,971 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

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

What each ingredient does

Cold mashed potato
Adds bulk and moisture, giving the forcemeat a soft body that holds its shape.
Minced beef
Provides the main savory meat flavor and the substance of the balls.
Eggs
Bind the mixture so it holds together when shaped and fried.
Butter
Conducts heat in the pan and promotes browning on the outside of the balls.

The step that matters

Frying the balls until rich brown. Browning comes from Maillard reactions at the surface, which need enough heat and a dry exterior. Frying over medium heat lets the outside brown before the interior is overcooked or the eggs and potato fall apart.

Swap the potato

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

  1. Potatothe original
  2. Chivefits about as well
  3. Carrotfits about as well
  4. Capsicumfits about as well

Fit is the average pairing score against beef, pepper, egg, butter, parsley. 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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