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Rissoles of Beef

Beef rissoles are seasoned minced beef mixed with breadcrumbs and herbs, formed into shapes, and fried.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 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 ↓

Rissoles of Beef

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Mince the cold meat finely.

  2. Mix the minced meat with breadcrumbs, chopped herbs, pepper, and salt.

Shape and cook

  1. Bind the mixture with 1-2 eggs.

  2. Form the mixture into cones or balls.

  3. Fry in bacon fat until browned.

Serve

  1. Serve with gravy and garnish with fried parsley.

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

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

  3. Thyme + peppertop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together11,585 recipes

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

  4. Meat + thymetop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together1,008 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-one (mushroom, metallic).

  5. Meat + peppertop 19% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together8,777 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).

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

What each ingredient does

Cold meat
Forms the main body of the rissoles and gives them a savoury beef flavour.
Breadcrumbs
Absorb moisture and help the mixture hold together with a softer texture.
Eggs
Bind the mixture so the rissoles keep their shape while frying.
Bacon fat
Conducts heat for frying and adds savoury flavour and browning to the outside.

The step that matters

Binding the mixture with eggs. Too little egg leaves the mixture crumbly and it may fall apart in the pan, while too much makes it wet and dense. Add the eggs gradually until the mixture just holds its shape.

Swap the thyme

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

  1. Thymethe original
  2. Marjoramfits about as well
  3. Dillfits about as well
  4. Tarragonfits less well

Fit is the average pairing score against meat, parsley, pepper, 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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