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Superior Suet Forcemeat, for Veal, Turkeys, &C.

A forcemeat made with suet, breadcrumbs, herbs, spices, egg yolks, and milk.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 9 ingredients
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Why it works: Parsley and thyme match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 9,057 recipes. Both carry cuminaldehyde, which smells Spicy, cumin. The science ↓

Superior Suet Forcemeat, for Veal, Turkeys, &C.

Ingredients

Directions

Make the forcemeat

  1. Mix breadcrumbs and suet in a bowl.

  2. Add parsley, lemon-thyme, salt, cayenne, mace, and nutmeg; mix well.

  3. Incorporate egg yolks and milk; blend until smooth.

  4. Pound the mixture in a mortar until perfectly smooth.

  5. Let it cool for at least 30 minutes.

Shape and fry

  1. Roll into balls and flour them.

  2. Fry gently for 7 to 8 minutes 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. Parsley + thymetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together9,057 recipes

    Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).

  2. Parsley + lemontop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together14,037 recipes

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

  3. Lemon + thymetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together3,973 recipes

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

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

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

  5. Thyme + nutmegtop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,907 recipes

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

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

What each ingredient does

Breadcrumbs
Provide the bulk and body that hold the forcemeat together.
Beef kidney suet
Adds fat that keeps the forcemeat moist and rich as it cooks.
Egg yolks
Bind the mixture and help it set firm when cooked.
Milk
Adds moisture so the mixture blends into a smooth paste.

The step that matters

Pound until perfectly smooth. Thorough pounding evenly distributes the suet and yolks so the mixture binds well. Lumps of fat can melt unevenly and cause the balls to crumble or greasy patches to form when fried.

Swap the mace

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (beef, parsley, lemon, thyme, nutmeg, egg, milk):

  1. Marjoramfits better
  2. Winter savoryfits better
  3. Tarragonfits better
  4. Macethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against beef, parsley, lemon, thyme, nutmeg, egg, milk. 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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