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Dolpettes of Cold Meat

Small breaded and fried balls made from cold hashed meat, bread crumbs, egg yolk, and Parmesan cheese.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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Why it works: Bread and egg are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 13% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 22,662 recipes. Both carry (e)-2-octenal, which smells fatty, green. The science ↓

Dolpettes of Cold Meat

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Prepare the cold hashed meat as for a hash.

  2. Add enough bread crumbs to thicken the mixture. Mix in the egg yolk until well combined.

  3. Shape the mixture into small balls.

Coat and fry

  1. Dip each ball into the egg, then roll in bread crumbs and grated Parmesan cheese.

  2. Fry the balls in hot oil until golden brown.

Serve

  1. Serve with tomato sauce or glaze them.

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. Bread + eggtop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together22,662 recipes

    Shared aroma: (e)-2-octenal (fatty, green).

  2. Meat + breadtop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,924 recipes

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

  3. Bread + parmesan cheesetop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together577 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

  4. Meat + parmesan cheesetop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together269 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,3,5-trimethylpyrazine (cocoa, roasted).

  5. Egg + parmesan cheesetop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together3,368 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-ol (mushroom, earthy).

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

What each ingredient does

Cold hashed meat
Forms the main body of the balls and provides the savoury flavour.
Bread crumbs
Thicken the mixture so the balls hold their shape while frying.
Egg yolk
Binds the mixture together, helping the balls hold their shape.
Egg
Helps the bread crumb and Parmesan coating stick to each ball.
Grated parmesan cheese
Adds savoury flavour and helps the coating brown during frying.

The step that matters

Frying in hot oil. If the oil is not hot enough, the coating absorbs oil and turns greasy before it browns. Frying in hot oil sets the crumb crust quickly, keeping the balls crisp and holding their shape.

“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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