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Forcemeat Balls

Forcemeat balls are small meat mixtures shaped into balls, coated in breadcrumbs, and fried until golden.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 10 ingredients
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Forcemeat Balls

Why it works: Parsley and lemon match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 14,037 recipes. Both carry beta-phellandrene, which smells minty, terpene. The science ↓

Forcemeat Balls

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the mixture

  1. Mix the beef suet, breadcrumbs, parsley, mixed herbs, and lemon rind in a bowl.

  2. Season with salt, pepper, and nutmeg.

  3. Add the egg and milk, and mix until combined.

Shape and fry

  1. Shape the mixture into balls of desired size.

  2. Coat the balls in egg and breadcrumbs.

  3. Fry the balls in deep fat until golden brown.

  4. Drain on paper towels before serving.

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.

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.

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

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

  2. Parsley + peppertop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together34,122 recipes

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

  3. Lemon + peppertop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together27,047 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).

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

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

  5. Lemon + nutmegtop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together11,318 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

Beef suet
Adds fat that keeps the meatballs moist and rich while they cook.
Breadcrumbs
Bind the mixture and absorb moisture, giving the meatballs a tender texture.
Egg
Binds the mixture together and helps the coating set and brown.

The step that matters

Fry the balls in deep fat until golden brown. Fat that is too cool lets the coating soak up oil and fall apart, while fat that is too hot browns the outside before the centre heats through. Holding a steady frying temperature keeps the balls crisp and cooked inside.

Swap the nutmeg

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

  1. Marjoramfits better
  2. Dillfits better
  3. Thymefits about as well
  4. Nutmegthe original

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