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Quenelles and Boudins

A dumpling made from minced veal, beef suet, herbs, spices, eggs, and water.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 11 ingredients
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Why it works: Parsley and pepper match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 34,122 recipes. Both carry 4'-methylacetophenone, which smells bitter almond. The science ↓

Quenelles and Boudins

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Scrape and mince the veal fillet.

  2. Mince the beef suet, ensuring it is free from strings and skins.

  3. Chop the parsley, onions, and mushrooms.

  4. Combine the meats and chopped ingredients in a bowl.

Season and bind

  1. Add pepper, salt, allspice, and mace to the mixture.

  2. Pound the mixture well, adding the eggs one at a time and a little water.

Test

  1. Form a small ball from the mixture and boil it in water to test for seasoning and lightness.

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 + peppertop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together34,122 recipes

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

  2. Parsley + allspicetop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,289 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  3. Beef + mushroomtop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together3,232 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-nonadienal (fatty, green).

  4. Pepper + allspicetop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together6,395 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  5. Beef + oniontop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together17,092 recipes

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

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

What each ingredient does

Veal fillet
Provides the lean, tender meat that forms the body of the quenelles.
Beef suet
Adds fat that keeps the quenelles moist and tender as they cook.
Eggs
Bind the mixture and help it set firm when cooked.

The step that matters

Pounding the mixture with the eggs and water. Pounding works the proteins and fat into a smooth, cohesive paste. Adding eggs one at a time lets each one emulsify and bind fully, which keeps the mixture from splitting and gives a light, even texture.

Swap the mace

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (veal, beef, parsley, onion, mushroom, pepper, allspice):

  1. Thymefits better
  2. Marjoramfits better
  3. Winter savoryfits better
  4. Macethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against veal, beef, parsley, onion, mushroom, pepper, allspice. 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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