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Fried Rissoles

A fried patty made from cold meat, suet, breadcrumbs, herbs, and flour, coated in breadcrumbs and fried in clarified dripping.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 12 ingredients
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Why it works: Marjoram and thyme match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,225 recipes. Both carry terpineol, which smells pine, woody. The science ↓

Fried Rissoles

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Heat ½ cup of clarified dripping in a saucepan.

  2. Finely chop the cold meat until you have about 2 tablespoons.

  3. Chop 2 oz of suet as finely as possible to yield 2 tablespoons.

  4. Grate enough bread to have more than 2 tablespoons for coating.

  5. Wash and dry 2 sprigs of parsley, then chop finely to make 1 tablespoon.

  6. Chop 1 sprig each of marjoram and thyme, discarding the stalks.

Shape and fry

  1. In a bowl, mix the chopped meat, suet, and 2 tablespoons of bread crumbs.

  2. Add the chopped herbs, 2 oz of flour, and ¼ teaspoon of salt, mixing well.

  3. Form the mixture into small balls, then coat them in additional bread crumbs.

  4. Fry the rissoles in the hot dripping 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. Marjoram + thymetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together2,225 recipes

    Shared aroma: terpineol (pine, woody).

  2. Parsley + thymetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together9,057 recipes

    Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).

  3. Parsley + marjoramtop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,979 recipes

    Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).

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

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

  5. Marjoram + peppertop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together2,609 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

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

What each ingredient does

Cold meat
Forms the bulk of the rissoles and gives them their main savoury flavour.
Suet
Adds fat that keeps the rissoles moist and tender while they cook.
Bread crumbs
Absorb moisture and help hold the mixture together, and brown in the frying fat.
Flour
Absorbs moisture from the mixture and helps the balls hold their shape.
Herbs
Add aroma that gives the rissoles a fresh, savoury character.

The step that matters

Fry in hot dripping until golden brown. Hot fat sets and browns the crumb coating quickly, so the rissoles absorb less grease and do not fall apart or turn soggy.

Swap the parsley

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (meat, bread, marjoram, thyme, egg, pepper, flour):

  1. Winter savoryfits about as well
  2. Parsleythe original
  3. Sagefits about as well
  4. Nutmegfits less well

Fit is the average pairing score against meat, bread, marjoram, thyme, egg, pepper, flour. 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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