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Polpettes of Rabbits, a L’lTALIENNE

Polpettes of Rabbits, a L’Latienne is a rabbit meatball dish with mushrooms, parsley, shallots, Parmesan, nutmeg, Veloute sauce, egg yolks, and bread crumbs.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 10 ingredients
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Why it works: Parsley and shallot match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 3,737 recipes. Both carry 2,4-decadienal, which smells seaweed. The science ↓

Polpettes of Rabbits, a L’lTALIENNE

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the mixture

  1. Remove the meat from the roasted rabbits and chop it finely.

  2. In a stewpan, combine the chopped meat, mushrooms, parsley, shallots, Parmesan, nutmeg, and Veloute sauce.

  3. Heat the mixture over the fire until well combined.

  4. Stir in the egg yolks and spread the mixture in a square about ½ inch thick on an earthen dish.

Shape and fry

  1. Once cooled, cut out circular shapes using a tin cutter about 1½ inches in diameter.

  2. Bread‑crumb the shapes twice.

  3. In a sauté pan, heat clarified butter and fry the polpettes until lightly colored.

  4. Drain on a napkin, arrange in double circular rows, pour brown Italian sauce underneath, and serve.

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. Parsley + shallottop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together3,737 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).

  2. Parsley + nutmegtop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together5,062 recipes

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

  3. Mushroom + shallottop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,982 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).

  4. Shallot + nutmegtop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,019 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

  5. Mushroom + parmesan cheesetop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,199 recipes

    Shared aroma: methyl 2-methylbutyrate (apple, fatty).

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

What each ingredient does

Roasted rabbit meat
Provides the main body and savory flavor of the meatballs.
Parmesan cheese
Adds savory, salty flavor and helps bind the mixture as it sets.
Egg yolks
Bind the mixture and help it set firm when heated.
Veloute sauce
Adds moisture and body so the mixture holds together.
Bread crumbs
Form a crisp, browned outer coating when fried.
Shallots
Add aromatic sweetness and depth to the mixture.

The step that matters

Heating the mixture until well combined. Heating the mixture before the egg yolks are added helps it firm up and become easier to spread and cut cleanly. Overheating or uneven heat can cause proteins to tighten and turn grainy or dry, so stir steadily while it warms.

Swap the nutmeg

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (rabbit, mushroom, parsley, shallot, parmesan cheese, sauce, egg):

  1. Capersfits better
  2. Tarragonfits better
  3. Thymefits better
  4. Nutmegthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against rabbit, mushroom, parsley, shallot, parmesan cheese, sauce, egg. 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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