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Rissoles of Cold Meat

A cold meat rissole made with chopped beef or mutton, breadcrumbs, onion, parsley, egg, and gravy.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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Why it works: Pepper and parsley 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 ↓

Rissoles of Cold Meat

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the mixture

  1. Soak the breadcrumbs in a little stock.

  2. Chop the onion and meat, then mix them with the soaked breadcrumbs.

  3. Season with salt and pepper, then add the chopped parsley and egg.

Shape and fry

  1. Form the mixture into balls or rolls.

  2. Coat each ball or roll in egg and breadcrumbs.

  3. Fry in hot fat 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. Pepper + parsleytop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together34,122 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

  2. Beef + oniontop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together17,092 recipes

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

  3. Onion + parsleytop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together25,843 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).

  4. Beef + peppertop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together18,971 recipes

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

  5. Pepper + oniontop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together68,474 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

Cooked beef or mutton
Forms the main body of the rissoles and gives them their meaty flavor.
Breadcrumbs
Absorb liquid and help bind the meat so the mixture holds its shape.
Egg
Binds the mixture together and helps the coating set during frying.
Gravy
Adds moisture and savory flavor to the meat mixture.

The step that matters

Fry in hot fat until golden brown. Hot fat sears the breaded outside quickly, forming a crisp golden crust that seals in moisture. Fat that is too cool lets the coating soak up oil and fall apart.

Swap the onion

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

  1. Carrotfits better
  2. Capsicumfits better
  3. Chivefits better
  4. Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against beef, pepper, parsley, 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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