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Forcemeats

A sweet forcemeat made from biscuits, eggs, sugar, and skim milk.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 4 ingredients
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Why it works: Biscuit and sugar are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 17% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,874 recipes. Both carry 1-penten-3-one, which smells fish, pungent. The science ↓

Forcemeats

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the biscuit pulp

  1. Soak the biscuits in cold water until soft.

  2. Boil the soaked biscuits in enough water to make a smooth pulp.

Make the forcemeat

  1. In a saucepan, beat the eggs and mix in the sugar and skim milk.

  2. Pour the egg mixture over the beaten biscuits, stirring constantly.

  3. Boil for about five minutes, then pour into a basin and let cool before serving.

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. Biscuit + sugartop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,874 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-penten-3-one (fish, pungent).

  2. Biscuit + milktop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,332 recipes

    Shared aroma: nonanal (fat, citrus).

  3. Egg + milktop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together88,785 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

  4. Sugar + milktop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together77,875 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

  5. Egg + sugartop 21% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together122,807 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

Sugar and milk barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 77,875 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

Biscuits
Form the bulk and body of the forcemeat as they soften into a pulp.
Eggs
Bind the mixture and help it set as it cooks.
Skim milk
Adds moisture and softness to the pulp.
Sugar
Adds sweetness to the forcemeat.

The step that matters

Pour the egg mixture over the beaten biscuits, stirring constantly.. Constant stirring keeps the egg spread evenly through the biscuit pulp. Without it, the egg can cook in lumps or curdle when it meets the hot mixture, leaving a grainy texture.

“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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