Name: Rissoles
Ingredients: sufficient fat for frying; 1 egg, beaten; fine bread-crumbs; ½ cup stock; 1 tablespoon flour; 1 tablespoon butter; 1 teaspoon sherry; 1 teaspoon mushroom ketchup; fresh parsley for garnish

Why it works: Sherry and mushroom are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,176 recipes. Both carry 2-methoxy-4-methylphenol, which smells smoky, clove. The science ↓

Rissoles

Ingredients

Directions

Form balls the size of a large walnut.
Dip each ball in beaten egg, then coat with bread-crumbs.
Fry in boiling fat for 2-3 minutes until golden.
For the gravy, mix stock with brown thickening made from equal parts flour and butter, cooked until golden.
Add sherry and mushroom ketchup to the gravy.
Pour the gravy around the rissoles and garnish with 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.

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.

Sherry + mushroomtop 5% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together1,176 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-methoxy-4-methylphenol (smoky, clove).
Bread + buttertop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together27,232 recipes

Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).
Butter + mushroomtop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together12,525 recipes

Shared aroma: trans-2-decenal (waxy, orange).
Bread + mushroomtop 10% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together2,536 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Mushroom + parsleytop 11% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together6,132 recipes

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

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

Swap the parsley

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (egg, bread, flour, butter, sherry, mushroom, ketchup):

Nutmegfits about as well
Capersfits about as well
Thymefits about as well
Parsleythe original

Fit is the average pairing score against egg, bread, flour, butter, sherry, mushroom, ketchup. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.