Why it works: Meat and pepper are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 19% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 8,777 recipes. Both carry 2,4-decadienal, which smells seaweed. The science ↓
Rissoles
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the mixture
Mince the cold meat and stew it in thickened gravy with herbs, pepper, and salt.
Let the mixture cool.
Shape and coat
Form small balls using the palms of your hands.
Cover the balls with fine bread crumbs.
Beat the egg and dip the balls in it, then cover again with bread crumbs.
Fry and serve
Fry until pale yellow and serve with fried parsley or gravy.
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.
Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it
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.
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Meat + peppertop 19% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together8,777 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
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Meat + eggtop 22% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together6,432 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
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Pepper + eggtop 33% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together50,580 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Pepper and egg barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 50,580 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Remains of cold meat
- Forms the bulk of the rissoles and provides their savoury, meaty flavour.
- Thickened gravy
- Binds the minced meat together and keeps the mixture moist.
- 1 egg
- Helps the bread crumbs adhere to the outside of the balls.
The step that matters
Let the mixture cool. A warm, soft mixture is hard to shape and may fall apart. Cooling lets the gravy set slightly so the balls hold their form through coating and frying.
“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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