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Veal Rissoles

Veal rissoles are minced veal and ham coated in breadcrumbs, fried, and served with gravy, bacon, lemon, and parsley.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 16 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 ↓

Veal Rissoles

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the mixture

  1. Mince the veal and ham or bacon very finely.

  2. Mix the minced meat with salt, pepper, grated nutmeg, chopped parsley, and bread crumbs.

  3. Bind the mixture with the beaten egg yolk and cream, milk, or gravy.

  4. Form the mixture into balls the size of small walnuts.

Coat and rest

  1. Dust the balls with flour, then dip them in beaten egg and coat with bread crumbs.

  2. Let the coated balls stand for 1 hour, then dip them in egg and bread crumbs again.

Fry and serve

  1. Fry the rissoles in plenty of hot fat until lightly browned all over, about 10 to 15 minutes.

  2. Drain the rissoles and serve on a hot dish with gravy poured around them, garnished with fried bacon, lemon slices, and parsley.

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. Nutmeg + parsleytop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together5,062 recipes

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

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

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

  4. Ham + breadtop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,536 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-acetyl-1-pyrroline (popcorn, roasted).

  5. Nutmeg + creamtop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together7,920 recipes

    Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).

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

What each ingredient does

Cold roast veal
Forms the main body of the rissole, giving a firm, meaty bite once cooked.
Ham or bacon
Adds savoury, salty flavour and some fat that keeps the mixture moist.
Egg yolk
Binds the minced meat together so the balls hold their shape while frying.
Bread crumbs
Absorb moisture in the mixture and form a crisp, golden outer coating when fried.
Cream, milk, or gravy
Adds moisture so the rissoles stay tender rather than dry inside.

The step that matters

Coating and resting before the second egg and crumb dip. The rested coating dries slightly and adheres better, so the second layer stays on during frying and gives an even, crisp crust instead of bare patches.

Swap the parsley

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

  1. Parsleythe original
  2. Marjoramfits about as well
  3. Clovefits less well
  4. Tarragonfits less well

Fit is the average pairing score against veal, ham, pepper, nutmeg, bread, 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.

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