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Parsnip Balls

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

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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Why it works: Butter and milk are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 81,283 recipes. Both carry (z)-4-heptenal, which smells biscuit, cream. The science ↓

Parsnip Balls

Ingredients

Directions

Make the mixture

  1. In a bowl, combine the mashed parsnips, butter, salt, pepper, and milk or cream.

  2. Stir the mixture over low heat for 5 minutes.

  3. Remove from heat and let it cool, then add the beaten egg.

Shape and fry

  1. Once cool, roll the mixture into balls.

  2. Dip each ball in egg and breadcrumbs.

  3. Fry the balls in hot lard 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.

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. Butter + milktop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together81,283 recipes

    Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).

  2. Parsnip + peppertop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,109 recipes

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

  3. Butter + eggtop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together118,967 recipes

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

  4. Milk + eggtop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together88,785 recipes

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

  5. Parsnip + milktop 19% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together322 recipes

    Shared aroma: sabinene (woody, terpenic).

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

What each ingredient does

Parsnips
Form the bulk of the balls and provide the main flavor and body.
Butter
Adds richness and moisture to the mashed parsnips.
Egg
Binds the mixture so the balls hold their shape, and helps the coating adhere.
Milk or cream
Adds moisture and softness to the mixture.

The step that matters

Let the mixture cool before adding the egg. Adding beaten egg to a hot mixture can scramble it and make it loose and uneven. Cooling first lets the egg blend smoothly and bind the balls so they hold their shape while frying.

Swap the parsnip

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

  1. Capsicumfits better
  2. Potatofits better
  3. Asparagusfits better
  4. Parsnipthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against butter, pepper, milk, 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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