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 ↓
Meat Cake
Ingredients
Directions
The book says “a quick oven”. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.
Prepare
Chop the meat finely.
Mash and beat the potatoes until light.
Mix all the ingredients together.
Bake and serve
Grease a cake tin and sprinkle it with browned bread crumbs.
Put the mixture in the tin or pile it in a flat baking tin.
Bake in a 400°F (200°C) oven for 30 minutes to 1 hour.
When nicely browned, turn it onto a hot dish and serve with brown gravy.
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.
Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it
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.
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Parsley + peppertop 2% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together34,122 recipes
Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
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Parsley + nutmegtop 3% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together5,062 recipes
Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
-
Potato + parsleytop 5% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together2,855 recipes
Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
-
Nutmeg + peppertop 7% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together13,015 recipes
Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
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Potato + nutmegtop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,052 recipes
Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Cold meat scraps
- Provides the savory body and flavor of the cake.
- Cooked potatoes
- Adds moisture and a light, soft texture to the mixture.
- Bread crumbs
- Bind the mixture and absorb moisture so it holds its shape.
- Egg
- Binds the ingredients together and helps set the cake when baked.
The step that matters
Bake until nicely browned. Baking long enough lets the surface brown and dry out so the cake holds its shape when turned onto a dish. Underbaking leaves it soft and likely to crumble.
Swap the potato
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (meat, bread, parsley, egg, nutmeg, pepper):
- Shallotfits better
- Spinachfits better
- Capsicumfits better
- Potatothe original
Fit is the average pairing score against meat, bread, parsley, egg, nutmeg, pepper. 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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