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Light Forcemeat for Pies or Fowls, &C

A light forcemeat mixture of veal, ham, bacon, herbs, spices, lemon, egg yolk, and breadcrumbs.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 13 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 ↓

Light Forcemeat for Pies or Fowls, &C

Ingredients

Directions

  1. In a pot, combine veal, ham, bacon, parsley, thyme, shallots, beaten spices, lemon juice, pepper, salt, and mushrooms.

  2. Cook over low heat until three-quarters done.

  3. Pound the mixture in a mortar until very fine.

  4. Add enough yolk of raw egg and breadcrumbs to bind the mixture.

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. Thyme + lemontop 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

Lean veal
Provides the main meaty body and structure of the forcemeat.
Bacon
Adds fat, which keeps the forcemeat moist and rich as it cooks.
Yolk of raw egg
Acts as a binder, setting during cooking to hold the mixture together.
Breadcrumbs
Absorb moisture and help bind the mixture into a cohesive texture.
Mushrooms
Add savoury, earthy depth and moisture to the mixture.

The step that matters

Pound the mixture until very fine. Pounding breaks the cooked meat into a smooth, fine texture so the forcemeat binds evenly and slices cleanly. Coarse pieces stay crumbly and separate when cooked or sliced.

“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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