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

A suet-based forcemeat mixture for veal and turkey, made with bread crumbs, 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

Prepare the forcemeat

  1. Mix the bread crumbs and chopped suet in a bowl.

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

  3. Incorporate the egg yolks and milk until smooth.

  4. Transfer the mixture to a mortar and pound until perfectly smooth.

Shape and cook

  1. Let it cool for at least 30 minutes.

  2. Roll into balls and flour them.

  3. Fry gently for 7 to 8 minutes or poach for 6 to 7 minutes until cooked through.

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

Fine stale bread crumbs
Provide the bulk and absorb moisture so the forcemeat holds its shape.
Beef kidney suet
Adds richness and fat that keeps the forcemeat tender after cooking.
Egg yolks
Bind the mixture and help it set firm when cooked.
Milk
Adds moisture to loosen the mixture and keep it smooth.

The step that matters

Pound until perfectly smooth. Thorough pounding breaks up the suet and crumbs so the mixture binds evenly. Lumps can cause uneven texture and crumbling when the balls are fried or poached.

Swap the mace

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

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

Fit is the average pairing score against bread, beef, parsley, lemon, thyme, nutmeg, 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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