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Egg Rissoles

Egg rissole is a fried ball made from mashed yolks, chopped parsley, lemon juice, finely chopped whites, and breadcrumbs.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 5 ingredients
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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 ↓

Egg Rissoles

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the filling

  1. Boil the eggs hard, then peel and separate the yolks from the whites.

  2. Mash the yolks and mix with chopped parsley and lemon juice.

  3. Chop the egg whites finely and add to the yolk mixture.

Shape and fry

  1. Form the mixture into small balls.

  2. Roll the balls in beaten egg and then in breadcrumbs.

  3. Fry in butter or olive oil 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 + lemontop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together14,037 recipes

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

  2. Milk + buttertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together81,283 recipes

    Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).

  3. Milk + lemontop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together19,053 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

  4. Parsley + buttertop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together28,563 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-hexenal (green, leafy).

  5. Lemon + buttertop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together41,227 recipes

    Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).

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

What each ingredient does

Hard-boiled eggs
Provide the bulk of the filling, with mashed yolks giving richness and chopped whites adding body.
Milk
Adds moisture to the filling so it stays soft rather than dry and crumbly.
Lemon juice
Adds acidity that brightens the rich egg flavour.
Breadcrumbs (in the method)
Form a crisp, golden coating that browns when fried.

The step that matters

Coating and frying the balls. The beaten egg and breadcrumb coating must be fully set and even, or the balls can break open or soak up oil. Frying over moderate heat lets the coating brown without the outside burning before the filling is heated through.

Swap the parsley

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

  1. Parsleythe original
  2. Nutmegfits about as well
  3. Cinnamonfits about as well
  4. Tarragonfits less well

Fit is the average pairing score against milk, egg, lemon, butter. 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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