Skip to main content
Main

Parsnip Balls

A fried ball made from mashed boiled parsnips, egg, and breadcrumbs.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 4 ingredients
Jump to recipe ↓

Why it works: Egg and bread 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 ↓

Parsnip Balls

Ingredients

Directions

Make the mixture

  1. Mash and season the boiled parsnips.

  2. Remove from heat and add the beaten egg while still warm.

Shape and coat

  1. Once cooled, shape the mixture into balls about the size of a large egg.

  2. Dip each ball into beaten egg, then coat with bread crumbs.

Fry

  1. Fry in boiling oil until pale 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. Egg + breadtop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together22,662 recipes

    Shared aroma: (e)-2-octenal (fatty, green).

  2. Parsnip + breadtop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together110 recipes

    Shared aroma: myrcene (balsamic, herbaceous).

  3. Parsnip + eggtop 33% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together442 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-methylbutyraldehyde (malty, chocolate).

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

What each ingredient does

Parsnips
Provide the starchy, bulk base that holds the balls together and gives a mild sweetness.
Egg
Binds the mashed parsnip and, as a coating, helps the crumbs stick and brown.
Bread crumbs
Form a crisp, golden outer crust when fried.

The step that matters

Add the egg while the parsnips are still warm. Warm mash lets the egg blend in evenly and set gently when cooked. If the mixture cools first, the egg can clump and the balls may be loose and crumbly.

Swap the parsnip

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

  1. Asparagusfits better
  2. Leekfits better
  3. Shallotfits better
  4. Parsnipthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against egg, bread. 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.

You might also like

Brown BreadBrown Bread461 recipesWhite BreadWhite Bread80 recipesBread OmeletteBread Omelette60 recipesOatmeal BreadOatmeal Bread51 recipes