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Forcemeat Balls for an Entree

Rabbit forcemeat balls fried and served in rich brown gravy.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 11 ingredients
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Why it works: Garlic and parsley match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 4% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 9,308 recipes. Both carry beta-phellandrene, which smells minty, terpene. The science ↓

Forcemeat Balls for an Entree

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the forcemeat

  1. Mince the rabbit fillets and mix with ham, bacon, garlic, parsley, white pepper, and mace.

  2. Pound the mixture in a mortar, gradually adding cream until it forms a paste.

Shape and fry

  1. Mould the mixture into small balls and dip them in frothed egg white.

  2. Let the balls sit for a few minutes, then fry in butter until light brown.

  3. Serve the balls in a rich brown gravy.

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. Garlic + parsleytop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together9,308 recipes

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

  2. Clove + parsleytop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together6,768 recipes

    Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).

  3. Clove + macetop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together8,400 recipes

    Shared aroma: methyleugenol (clove, spice).

  4. White pepper + macetop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,695 recipes

    Shared aroma: myrcene (balsamic, herbaceous).

  5. Clove + garlictop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together11,368 recipes

    Shared aroma: linalool (floral, citrus).

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

What each ingredient does

Rabbit fillets
Provide the main lean meat that forms the body of the forcemeat.
Fat bacon
Adds fat and moisture, keeping the lean meat from drying out as it cooks.
Cream
Adds moisture and softness, helping the pounded mixture bind into a smooth paste.
Egg white
Forms a light coating that helps the balls brown and hold their shape in the pan.
Lean ham
Adds savory, salty flavor that seasons the forcemeat throughout.

The step that matters

Frying the balls in butter. Fry until light brown over moderate heat. Butter browns quickly and can burn, and the egg white coating only helps if the balls are not overcooked, which would dry the lean meat.

Swap the white pepper

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (rabbit, ham, clove, garlic, parsley, mace, cream):

  1. Nutmegfits better
  2. Thymefits better
  3. Winter savoryfits better
  4. White pepperthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against rabbit, ham, clove, garlic, parsley, mace, cream. 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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