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Forcemeat Fritters

Fritters made from forcemeat, breadcrumbs, butter, eggs, milk, herbs, and mushrooms, fried until golden.

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 ↓

Forcemeat Fritters

Ingredients

Directions

Make the mixture

  1. Rub the butter or margarine into the breadcrumbs.

  2. Add the parsley, leeks, herbs, and a seasoning of salt and pepper.

  3. Stir in the eggs and milk.

  4. Shape the mixture into fingers.

Fry and serve

  1. Fry in hot butter or oil in a frying pan until golden.

  2. Serve garnished with the fried mushroom slices, brown sauce, and red‑currant jelly.

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. Parsley + leektop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together759 recipes

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

  3. Butter + milktop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together81,283 recipes

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

  4. Butter + mushroomtop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together12,525 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-decenal (waxy, orange).

  5. Leek + mushroomtop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together92 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl butyrate (apple, fruity).

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

What each ingredient does

Breadcrumbs
Form the bulk of the mixture and absorb the liquid to hold the fritters together.
Butter or margarine
Adds richness and moisture, and helps the outside brown when frying.
Eggs
Bind the mixture so the fingers hold their shape when fried.
Milk
Moistens the breadcrumbs so the mixture becomes soft and shapeable.

The step that matters

Shape the mixture into fingers. The mixture must be firm enough to hold its shape. Breadcrumbs soak up the liquid over time, so the mixture should be shaped before it becomes too soft to hold together in the pan.

Swap the leek

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

  1. Potatofits better
  2. Capsicumfits better
  3. Shallotfits better
  4. Leekthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against butter, egg, milk, parsley, mushroom, pepper. 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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