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

A forcemeat mixture of suet, bread crumbs, herbs, and eggs, formed into balls and fried.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 10 ingredients
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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

Directions

Make the forcemeat

  1. Mix the bread crumbs and chopped suet in a bowl.

  2. Add parsley, lemon-thyme, salt, cayenne, mace, and nutmeg; mix well.

  3. Incorporate the egg yolks and milk until smooth.

  4. Pound the mixture in a mortar until perfectly smooth.

  5. Let it cool for at least 30 minutes.

Shape and fry

  1. Form the mixture into balls.

  2. Flour the balls and fry gently for 7 to 8 minutes until 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 + thymetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together9,057 recipes

    Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).

  2. Parsley + lemontop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together14,037 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

  3. Lemon + thymetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together3,973 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

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

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

  5. 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 absorb moisture so the mixture holds together.
Beef kidney suet
Adds fat that keeps the forcemeat rich and moist while it fries.
Egg yolks
Bind the mixture and help it set firm when cooked.
Milk
Adds moisture that softens the crumbs into a smooth paste.
Parsley
Adds fresh, green aroma and flavour.

The step that matters

Fry gently. High heat browns the flour coating before the centre heats through, and gentle frying lets the forcemeat cook evenly without burning or falling apart.

Swap the mace

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

  1. Marjoramfits better
  2. Winter savoryfits better
  3. Sagefits better
  4. 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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