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Polpettes of Rabbits, a lTtALIENNE

Rabbit polpettes are small meatballs made with rabbit, mushrooms, parsley, shallots, Parmesan, nutmeg, Velouté sauce, and egg yolks, fried in clarified butter.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 10 ingredients
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Why it works: Parsley and shallot match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 3,737 recipes. Both carry 2,4-decadienal, which smells seaweed. The science ↓

Polpettes of Rabbits, a lTtALIENNE

Ingredients

Directions

Make the mixture

  1. In a stewpan, combine the chopped rabbit meat, mushrooms, parsley, shallots, Parmesan cheese, nutmeg, and Velouté sauce.

  2. Stir over low heat until well mixed, then add the egg yolks.

  3. Spread the mixture in a square about ½ inch thick on an earthenware dish and let it cool.

Shape and fry

  1. Once cooled, cut out circular shapes using a tin cutter about 1½ inches in diameter.

  2. Coat each piece in bread crumbs twice.

  3. Heat clarified butter in a sauté pan and fry the polpettes until lightly colored.

  4. Drain on a napkin and arrange in double circular rows on a serving plate.

Serve

  1. Pour some brown Italian sauce underneath and serve.

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. Parsley + shallottop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together3,737 recipes

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

  2. Parsley + nutmegtop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together5,062 recipes

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

  3. Mushroom + shallottop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,982 recipes

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

  4. Shallot + nutmegtop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,019 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

  5. Mushroom + parmesan cheesetop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,199 recipes

    Shared aroma: methyl 2-methylbutyrate (apple, fatty).

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

What each ingredient does

Rabbit meat
Provides the main body of the filling, giving the polpettes their substance.
Parmesan cheese
Adds savory, salty flavor and helps bind the mixture as it warms.
Egg yolks
Bind the mixture and help it set when cooked, holding the shape together.
Velouté sauce
Adds moisture and body so the filling holds together without drying out.
Shallots
Contribute a mild, sweet aromatic flavor to the filling.
Mushrooms
Add earthy flavor and moisture to the filling.

The step that matters

Cooling the mixture before cutting. The filling must cool fully so it firms up and holds its shape. Cutting it warm can make the rounds soft and crumbly, and they may break apart when coated and fried.

Swap the nutmeg

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (rabbit, meat, mushroom, parsley, shallot, parmesan cheese, sauce):

  1. Capersfits better
  2. Thymefits better
  3. Garlicfits better
  4. Nutmegthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against rabbit, meat, mushroom, parsley, shallot, parmesan cheese, sauce. 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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