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Potatoes, Rissoles of

A fried patty of mashed potatoes, eggs, onion, parsley, and seasonings, coated in breadcrumbs.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 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 ↓

Potatoes, Rissoles of

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the mixture

  1. Boil the potatoes until tender.

  2. Mash the potatoes with butter, pepper, and salt.

  3. Peel, boil, and finely mince the onion and parsley.

  4. Add the minced onion and parsley to the mashed potatoes along with 1 beaten egg.

  5. Shape the mixture into rissoles.

Coat and fry

  1. Beat the remaining egg.

  2. Dip the rissoles in the beaten egg, then coat them with bread crumbs.

  3. Fry the rissoles in hot oil until they are 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 + peppertop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together34,122 recipes

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

  2. Potato + parsleytop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,855 recipes

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

  3. Bread + buttertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together27,232 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).

  4. Bread + hamtop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,536 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-acetyl-1-pyrroline (popcorn, roasted).

  5. Potato + peppertop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together8,305 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

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

What each ingredient does

Potatoes
Provide the bulk and starch that hold the mash together so it can be shaped.
Eggs
Bind the mixture and set when heated, helping the rissoles keep their shape.
Butter
Adds richness and fat, giving the mash a softer, more flavourful texture.
Bread crumbs
Form a crisp, browned outer crust when fried in hot oil.
Dried parsley
Adds a fresh herbal aroma and flavour to the mash.

The step that matters

Dip and coat the rissoles before frying. The beaten egg acts as glue for the bread crumbs, and it sets in hot oil to form a crust. Without a full, even coating, the soft potato centre can break apart or absorb too much oil.

Swap the potato

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

  1. Shallotfits better
  2. Capsicumfits about as well
  3. Asparagusfits about as well
  4. Potatothe original

Fit is the average pairing score against parsley, egg, bread, pepper, butter, ham. 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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