Name: Superior Suet Forcemeat, for Veal, Turkeys, &C.
Ingredients: 6 ounces fine stale bread crumbs; 6 ounces beef-kidney suet, chopped extremely small; 2 teaspoons parsley, mixed with a little lemon-thyme; 1 teaspoon salt; ¼ teaspoon cayenne pepper; ¼ teaspoon mace; ¼ teaspoon nutmeg; 3 egg yolks, unbeaten; 3 teaspoons milk

Why it works: Parsley and thyme match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 9,057 recipes. Both carry cuminaldehyde, which smells Spicy, cumin. The science ↓

Superior Suet Forcemeat, for Veal, Turkeys, &C.

Ingredients

6 ounces fine stale bread crumbs
6 ounces beef-kidney suet, chopped extremely small
2 teaspoons parsley, mixed with a little lemon-thyme
1 teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon cayenne pepper
¼ teaspoon mace
¼ teaspoon nutmeg
3 egg yolks, unbeaten
3 teaspoons milk

Directions

Prepare the forcemeat

Mix the bread crumbs and suet together in a bowl.
Add the parsley, lemon‑thyme, salt, cayenne, mace, and nutmeg; mix well.
Incorporate the egg yolks and milk, then pound the mixture in a mortar until smooth.
Let the forcemeat rest in a cool place for at least 30 minutes.

Shape and fry

Roll the mixture into balls, then flour them.
Fry the balls gently in hot oil for 7 to 8 minutes until golden brown, and dry them well before serving.

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.

Parsley + thymetop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together9,057 recipes

Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).
Parsley + lemontop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together14,037 recipes

Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).
Lemon + thymetop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together3,973 recipes

Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).
Parsley + peppertop 2% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together34,122 recipes

Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
Lemon + peppertop 3% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together27,047 recipes

Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).

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

What each ingredient does

Bread crumbs: Provide the bulk and body that hold the forcemeat together.
Beef-kidney suet: Adds fat and richness, keeping the balls moist as they cook.
Egg yolks: Bind the mixture and help it set when fried.
Milk: Adds moisture so the crumbs soften and the mixture becomes workable.

The step that matters

Fry the balls gently. Gentle frying in hot oil lets the centre heat through while the outside browns evenly. Too much heat browns the surface before the interior cooks, and fat that is not dried well leaves the balls greasy.

Swap the mace

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (bread, beef, parsley, lemon, thyme, pepper, nutmeg):

Marjoramfits better
Winter savoryfits better
Sagefits better
Macethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against bread, beef, parsley, lemon, thyme, pepper, nutmeg. 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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Lemon Sauce236 recipes

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Superior Suet Forcemeat, for Veal, Turkeys, &C.