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Meat Chop

A patty of minced meat and potato paste, coated in egg and breadcrumbs, then fried.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 13 ingredients
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Why it works: Almond and raisin are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,781 recipes. Both carry 2-nonanone, which smells fruity, floral. The science ↓

Meat Chop

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the filling

  1. Make a paste of the boiled potatoes.

  2. Mix the potato paste with salt, pepper, and egg whites.

  3. In a bowl, combine ginger juice, salt, minced onions, powdered chillies, and minced meat.

  4. Add ground almonds and raisins to the meat mixture.

  5. Fry the spiced meat in ghee.

  6. Add a little water to keep the meat soft.

Shape and fry

  1. Take a handful of potato paste and form a flat disc.

  2. Place some meat in the center of the disc.

  3. Fold the disc over the meat to shape it like an almond.

  4. Repeat to make as many cakes as possible.

  5. Dip each cake into beaten eggs.

  6. Roll the cake in bread crumbs or powdered biscuits.

  7. Fry the cakes in plenty of ghee until deep brown.

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. Almond + raisintop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,781 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonanone (fruity, floral).

  2. Potato + oniontop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together9,023 recipes

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

  3. Pepper + gingertop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together6,800 recipes

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

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

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

  5. Ginger + oniontop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together7,595 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

Boiled potatoes
Form the outer casing that holds the spiced meat filling together.
Minced meat
Provides the savoury filling that gives the cakes their main body.
Egg whites
Bind the potato paste so it holds its shape when shaped and fried.
Ground almonds
Add body and a nutty flavour to the meat filling.
Ghee
Fat for frying that carries flavour and promotes deep browning on the outside.
Bread crumbs or powdered biscuits
Form a crisp, browned coating on the outside of each cake.

The step that matters

Sealing the potato disc around the meat. If the potato paste is thin or torn, the meat can leak out during frying. The paste must fully enclose the filling, and the cakes should be sealed well before dipping and frying.

Swap the raisin

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (potato, pepper, egg, ginger, onion, meat, almond):

  1. Limefits better
  2. Avocadofits better
  3. Lemonfits better
  4. Raisinthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against potato, pepper, egg, ginger, onion, meat, almond. 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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