Name: Rissoles of Meat
Ingredients: Prepared meat (minced beef, veal, etc.); Puff paste; 1 egg (for egg wash); Butter (for frying)

Why it works: Beef and veal are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 11% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 3,784 recipes. Both carry 2,6-nonadienal, which smells cucumber, green. The science ↓

Rissoles of Meat

Ingredients

Prepared meat (minced beef, veal, etc.)
Puff paste
1 egg (for egg wash)
Butter (for frying)

Directions

Prepare

Prepare the minced meat as for patties.
Roll out the puff paste and cut it into rounds.
Place a small amount of meat on each round.

Shape

Wet the edge of the paste with egg white and fold it over the meat, sealing it into a ball.
Alternatively, place meat on one round, wet the edge, and top with another round, sealing it neatly.

Fry and serve

Brush the pastry with beaten egg and fry in butter until golden brown, about 5 to 6 minutes.
Drain and serve hot on a napkin.

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.

Beef + vealtop 11% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together3,784 recipes

Shared aroma: 2,6-nonadienal (cucumber, green).
Meat + beeftop 12% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together2,533 recipes

Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-one (mushroom, metallic).
Beef + buttertop 16% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together10,847 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-furfurylthiol (coffee, roasted).
Meat + buttertop 16% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together7,594 recipes

Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
Egg + buttertop 17% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together118,967 recipes

Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

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

What each ingredient does

Puff paste: Forms the crisp, flaky outer casing that encloses the meat.
Minced meat: Provides the savoury filling that cooks through inside the pastry.
Egg: Egg wash seals the edges and browns the pastry surface during frying.
Butter: Fries the pastry, adding richness and helping it turn golden brown.