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Rissoles

A fried meatball made with minced meat, stock, mashed potatoes, and seasonings.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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Rissoles

Why it works: Potato and pepper are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 9% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 8,305 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓

Rissoles

Ingredients

Directions

Make the filling

  1. Melt the dripping in a saucepan.

  2. Add the flour and stir until combined.

  3. Pour in the stock and stir until it boils.

  4. Add the minced meat and season with salt, pepper, and Worcestershire sauce. Mix well and shape into balls or cakes.

Coat and fry

  1. Dip in egg and breadcrumbs, then fry in hot oil until golden 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.

Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it

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

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

  2. Meat + potatotop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together786 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-one (mushroom, metallic).

  3. Potato + flourtop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together5,355 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  4. Flour + saucetop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together8,078 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  5. Flour + peppertop 19% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together50,459 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

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

What each ingredient does

Minced meat
Provides the savoury bulk and main flavour of the filling.
Flour
Thickens the stock into a binding base that holds the mixture together.
Stock
Adds moisture and savoury flavour to the filling as it thickens.
Mashed potatoes
Adds body and softness, helping the cakes hold their shape.
Dripping
Adds fat for flavour and helps the flour cook into a roux.

The step that matters

Frying in hot oil. If the oil is not hot enough, the coating absorbs fat and turns greasy instead of crisping. Hot oil seals the breadcrumbs quickly, giving a golden crust before the filling overheats.

Swap the potato

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (meat, flour, sauce, pepper):

  1. Shallotfits better
  2. Capsicumfits better
  3. Mustardfits better
  4. Potatothe original

Fit is the average pairing score against meat, flour, sauce, pepper. 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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