Name: Game, Forcemeat for
Ingredients: ¼ pound fat bacon; ¼ pound calf's liver; ¼ pound finely grated bread crumbs; 1 teaspoon salt; ½ teaspoon pepper; a pinch of powdered mace; 2 eggs (yolks only); a little cream

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 ↓

Game, Forcemeat for

Ingredients

Directions

Cut the bacon and liver into small pieces and fry until half cooked.
Chop the fried meat into small bits.
In a mortar, pound the meat with the bread crumbs, salt, pepper, and mace.
Add the beaten egg yolks and mix well.
If the mixture is too dry, add a little cream.

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.

Bread + eggtop 13% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together22,662 recipes

Shared aroma: (e)-2-octenal (fatty, green).
Pepper + macetop 16% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together12,257 recipes

Shared aroma: myristicin (spice, warm).
Liver + breadtop 16% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together731 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Bread + peppertop 16% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together20,964 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Mace + creamtop 18% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together4,009 recipes

Pepper and mace barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 12,257 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

Calf's liver: Adds savory depth and a soft, rich body to the forcemeat.
Fat bacon: Supplies fat that keeps the forcemeat moist and adds savory flavor.
Bread crumbs: Absorbs fat and moisture, giving the mixture body so it holds together.
Eggs: Egg yolks bind the mixture, helping it set firm when cooked.

The step that matters

Adding the egg yolks and checking dryness. Yolks are the binder, so they must be mixed in thoroughly for even setting. Cream should be added only if the mixture is too dry, because too much liquid will loosen the forcemeat and prevent it from holding its shape.

Swap the mace

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

Nutmegfits better
Parsleyfits better
Sagefits better
Macethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against liver, bread, pepper, egg, cream. 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.

Brown Bread461 recipes

White Bread80 recipes

Bread Omelette60 recipes

Oatmeal Bread51 recipes

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Game, Forcemeat for