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Chicken Rissoles

Chicken rissole is a fried ball of chicken, mashed potatoes, egg, and seasoning coated in egg and cracker crumbs.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 9 ingredients
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Why it works: Chicken and potato are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,756 recipes. Both carry (z)-4-decenal, which smells green, must. The science ↓

Chicken Rissoles

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the mixture

  1. Remove the chicken from the bones and chop it finely.

  2. Mix the chicken with mashed potatoes, beaten egg, salt, and pepper.

  3. Add a little of the soup to moisten the mixture and heat in a frying pan with melted butter until very hot.

Cool and shape

  1. Let the mixture cool completely.

  2. Form the cooled mixture into balls.

Coat and fry

  1. Roll each ball in egg, then in cracker crumbs.

  2. Fry in lard or dripping until light brown.

  3. Drain off the fat and serve hot on a folded napkin.

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. Chicken + potatotop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,756 recipes

    Shared aroma: (z)-4-decenal (green, must).

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

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

  3. Potato + buttertop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together6,456 recipes

    Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).

  4. Chicken + buttertop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together13,902 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-furfurylthiol (coffee, roasted).

  5. Chicken + peppertop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together19,958 recipes

    Shared aroma: piperonal (bitter, coconut).

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

What each ingredient does

Chicken
Provides the main body and bulk of the rissoles.
Mashed potatoes
Adds moisture and softness, helping the mixture hold together.
Egg
Binds the mixture, and in the coating it sets to help crumbs stick.
Cracker crumbs
Forms a crisp outer layer that browns during frying.
Lard or dripping
Conducts heat for frying and gives the outside a golden-brown color.

The step that matters

Let the mixture cool completely before shaping. A warm, moist mixture is soft and sticky, so it will not hold its shape well. Cooling firms the starch and fat, making the balls easier to form and less likely to break apart in the fat.

Swap the potato

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

  1. Capsicumfits about as well
  2. Potatothe original
  3. Asparagusfits about as well
  4. Spinachfits less well

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