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Rissoles of Fish

Fish rissoles made from cold fish flesh mixed with butter and spices, wrapped in puff pastry and fried.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 9 ingredients
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Why it works: Mace and nutmeg are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 4% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 6,557 recipes. Both carry myristicin, which smells spice, warm. The science ↓

Rissoles of Fish

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the filling

  1. Pound the cold fish flesh into a fine paste in a mortar.

  2. Add ¼ to ⅓ cup of butter, cayenne, mace, and nutmeg; mix well.

  3. If desired, add shrimps, fish sauces, or lobster coral.

Shape the rissoles

  1. Roll out puff pastry very thin and cut into small circles.

  2. Place some fish mixture on each circle, moisten edges with egg white, fold, and press securely.

Fry and drain

  1. Heat lard or butter in a pan until boiling, then gently add the rissoles.

  2. Fry until pale brown, then drain on blotting paper placed on a sieve.

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. Mace + nutmegtop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together6,557 recipes

    Shared aroma: myristicin (spice, warm).

  2. Pepper + nutmegtop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together13,015 recipes

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

  3. Butter + shrimptop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,931 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,6-nonadienal (cucumber, green).

  4. Fish + buttertop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,488 recipes

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

  5. Fish + shrimptop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together252 recipes

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

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

What each ingredient does

Cold fish flesh
Forms the main filling, which is pounded into a smooth paste that holds the rissoles together.
Butter
Adds richness and moisture to the fish filling, keeping it soft and tender when cooked.
Egg white
Acts as glue to seal the pastry edges so the filling stays enclosed during frying.
Puff pastry
Forms the crisp, flaky outer casing that browns and puffs when fried.

The step that matters

Sealing the pastry edges. If the edges are not moistened with egg white and pressed firmly, the filling can leak out during frying. A tight seal keeps the fish moist inside and the pastry crisp outside.

Swap the mace

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (fish, butter, pepper, nutmeg, shrimp, egg):

  1. Parsleyfits better
  2. Cinnamonfits better
  3. Tarragonfits better
  4. Macethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against fish, butter, pepper, nutmeg, shrimp, 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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