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Forcemeat Balls, or Quenelles, for Soups

A forcemeat mixture of bread, ham or tongue, suet, herbs, and spices formed into small balls or ovals, fried, and used in soups.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 14 ingredients
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Why it works: Thyme and marjoram match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,225 recipes. Both carry terpineol, which smells pine, woody. The science ↓

Forcemeat Balls, or Quenelles, for Soups

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the mixture

  1. Combine the bread, ham or tongue, suet, thyme, marjoram, savory, parsley, lemon peel, nutmeg, mace, white pepper, and cayenne in a bowl. Mix well and form into small balls or ovals using the beaten eggs to bind the mixture.

Fry and store

  1. Heat butter or oil in a pan and fry the balls until they are a clear, pale brown. Drain and dry the balls.

  2. Store them in a dry place; they will keep for two to three days.

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. Thyme + marjoramtop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together2,225 recipes

    Shared aroma: terpineol (pine, woody).

  2. Thyme + parsleytop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together9,057 recipes

    Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).

  3. Marjoram + parsleytop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,979 recipes

    Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).

  4. Parsley + lemontop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together14,037 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

  5. Marjoram + lemontop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together957 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

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

What each ingredient does

Eggs
Bind the mixture so the crumbs and fat hold together in shaped balls.
Bread
Provides the crumb body that gives the balls their soft, light texture.
Suet
Adds fat that keeps the balls moist and rich as they cook.
Ham or tongue
Adds savoury meaty flavour to the mixture.

The step that matters

Fry until clear, pale brown. Frying in hot fat browns the surface and seals it, giving flavour and a firm exterior. Overcooking dries the crumb and fat, while underheating leaves the balls greasy and pale.

Swap the mace

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (bread, ham, thyme, marjoram, parsley, lemon, nutmeg):

  1. Winter savoryfits better
  2. Sagefits better
  3. Tarragonfits better
  4. Macethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against bread, ham, thyme, marjoram, parsley, lemon, nutmeg. 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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