Why it works: Ham and sauce are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 22% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,314 recipes. Both carry ethanol, which smells alcoholic, ethereal. The science ↓
Rissoles of Cocks’-combs, with Ham
Ingredients
Directions
Make the filling
In a stewpan, combine the diced cocks' combs and ham.
Pour the pint of thick béchamel sauce into a flat stewpan and heat until reduced to a thick consistency.
Gradually stir the melted glaze into the sauce.
Mix the sauce with the cocks' combs and ham until well combined.
Pour the mixture into a small basin and let it cool.
Shape and cook
Using the cooled mixture and puff-paste, shape into rissoles.
Fry the rissoles until golden and serve on a folded napkin.
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.
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Ham + saucetop 22% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together1,314 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
- Cocks' combs
- Provide the main body and chewy texture of the filling.
- Béchamel sauce
- Binds the filling together and gives it a creamy, moist texture once thickened.
- Ham
- Adds savoury flavour and a firmer bite to the filling.
- Melted glaze
- Adds richness and sweetness to the sauce and helps it brown when fried.
- Puff-paste
- Forms the crisp, flaky outer casing that turns golden when fried.
The step that matters
Cooling the filling before shaping. A warm, thick sauce stays soft and sticky, so the rissoles can tear or slump. Cooling firms the béchamel so the filling holds its shape inside the pastry.
“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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