Why it works: Shallot and parsley match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 3,737 recipes. Both carry 2,4-decadienal, which smells seaweed. The science ↓
Meat Minced
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the meat
Remove all fat, sinew, and gristle from the cold meat.
Chop the meat with a mincing knife or pass it through a sausage machine.
Heat the mince
Place the minced meat in a stewpan with enough gravy to cover it, along with the minced shallot and parsley.
Heat the mixture slowly without boiling.
Once hot, add a little sauce, pepper, and salt to taste.
Serve
Fry slices of bread for serving and place them around the dish.
Garnish each slice with a sprig of fried parsley and place the mince in the center.
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.
-
Shallot + parsleytop 1% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together3,737 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
-
Parsley + peppertop 2% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together34,122 recipes
Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
-
Shallot + peppertop 11% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together5,898 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
-
Shallot + breadtop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,245 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
-
Shallot + saucetop 14% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,303 recipes
Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Cold meat
- Forms the body of the dish, giving the mince its main texture and flavour.
- Good gravy
- Keeps the minced meat moist and carries its flavour while it heats.
- Shallot
- Adds a mild onion-like aroma and savoury sweetness to the mixture.
The step that matters
Heat the mixture slowly without boiling. Boiling toughens the proteins in meat and makes it dry and firm, so gentle heating keeps the mince tender and moist in the gravy.
Swap the parsley
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (meat, shallot, sauce, pepper, bread):
- Capersfits better
- Parsleythe original
- Thymefits about as well
- Tarragonfits about as well
Fit is the average pairing score against meat, shallot, sauce, pepper, bread. 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.
More minced meat recipes
You might also like
Brown Bread461 recipes
White Bread80 recipes
Bread Omelette60 recipes
Meat Croquettes52 recipesThe free Flavor Lab newsletter: one surprising pairing a week and the molecular reason it works, in 60 seconds. No spam, unsubscribe anytime.
Prefer an account? Create a free account to save pairings and unlock the full chemistry.