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Fried Rissoles

Fried rissoles are small meat patties made with chopped meat, suet, herbs, and breadcrumbs, then fried.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 10 ingredients
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Why it works: Parsley and pepper match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 34,122 recipes. Both carry 4'-methylacetophenone, which smells bitter almond. The science ↓

Fried Rissoles

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Melt some dripping in a saucepan over medium heat.

  2. Prepare bread crumbs on a plate.

  3. Beat one egg in a bowl.

Shape the rissoles

  1. In a mixing bowl, combine meat, suet, bread crumbs, parsley, herbs, pepper, and salt.

  2. Add the beaten egg to the mixture to bind it together.

  3. Divide the mixture into small pieces and roll them into balls on a floured surface.

  4. Dip each ball in the remaining beaten egg.

  5. Roll the dipped balls in bread crumbs.

Fry and serve

  1. Fry the rissoles in hot fat until golden brown, a few at a time.

  2. Remove and drain on paper towels.

  3. Serve on a hot dish garnished with fried parsley.

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

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

  2. Bread + eggtop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together22,662 recipes

    Shared aroma: (e)-2-octenal (fatty, green).

  3. Meat + breadtop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,924 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).

  4. Parsley + breadtop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together8,588 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).

  5. Bread + peppertop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together20,964 recipes

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

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

What each ingredient does

Eggs
Bind the mixture together and form a coating that helps crumbs stick.
Suet
Adds fat that keeps the rissoles moist and rich during frying.
Bread crumbs
Absorb moisture and add body, and form a crisp golden outer coating.
Cooked meat
Provides the main savoury filling and flavour of the rissoles.
Parsley
Adds fresh, herbal aroma and flavour to the mixture.

The step that matters

Fry the rissoles in hot fat until golden brown, a few at a time.. If the fat is not hot enough, the coating absorbs oil and turns greasy, and crowding the pan drops the fat temperature, so the rissoles steam instead of browning. Frying in small batches keeps the fat hot and the crust crisp.

Swap the parsley

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (meat, bread, pepper, egg):

  1. Parsleythe original
  2. Nutmegfits about as well
  3. Thymefits less well
  4. Marjoramfits less well

Fit is the average pairing score against meat, bread, pepper, 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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