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Beef Forcemeat Ball Curry

A curry of beef forcemeat balls simmered in broth with spices.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 13 ingredients
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Why it works: Turmeric and ginger match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,776 recipes. Both carry eucalyptol, which smells eucalyptus, herbal. The science ↓

Beef Forcemeat Ball Curry

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the meatballs

  1. Wash the beef thoroughly.

  2. Cut the beef into pieces, discarding veins and scraggy portions.

  3. Pound the beef in a mortar until fine, removing all fibers and veins.

  4. Mix the pounded beef with salt, pepper, garden herbs, and bread-crumbs. Add a little broth or milk to the mixture and combine well.

  5. Beat the egg and add it to the mixture.

  6. Form the mixture into balls the size of large walnuts. Roll the balls in bread-crumbs.

Cook the curry

  1. Heat the lard or ghee in a pot.

  2. Fry the ground ingredients. Sprinkle a tablespoon of cold water over them.

  3. Add the meatballs to the pot with salt to taste and fry until browned.

  4. Pour in a cup of broth or water. Allow to simmer for about two hours.

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. Turmeric + gingertop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together2,776 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

  2. Onion + garlictop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together29,058 recipes

    Shared aroma: furaneol (caramel, strawberry).

  3. Turmeric + garlictop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together3,363 recipes

    Shared aroma: linalool (floral, citrus).

  4. Ginger + garlictop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together6,402 recipes

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

  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

Beef
Provides the main body and rich flavour of the meatballs and curry.
Egg
Binds the minced meat and crumbs so the meatballs hold their shape.
Bread-crumbs
Absorb moisture and help keep the meatballs tender rather than dense.
Lard or ghee
Fat for frying that browns the meatballs and carries the spice flavours.
Ground onions
Soften during frying to add sweetness and body to the curry base.

The step that matters

Frying the meatballs until browned. Searing the outside builds browned, savoury flavour through the Maillard reaction. Frying in enough hot fat, without crowding, gives an even colour rather than greyed, steamed meat.

Swap the ginger

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (beef, ghee, onion, turmeric, garlic, bread, egg):

  1. Cuminfits better
  2. Cardamomfits about as well
  3. Gingerthe original
  4. Parsleyfits about as well

Fit is the average pairing score against beef, ghee, onion, turmeric, garlic, bread, 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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