Name: Superior Suet Forcemeat, for Veal, Turkeys, &C
Ingredients: 6 oz beef kidney suet, finely chopped; 6 oz fine stale bread crumbs; 1 large dessertspoon parsley, chopped; 1 teaspoon coarse sea salt; ¼ teaspoon cayenne pepper; 1 saltspoon mace; 1 saltspoon nutmeg; 3 egg yolks; 3 teaspoons milk

Why it works: Parsley and pepper match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 34,122 recipes. Both carry 4'-methylacetophenone, which smells bitter almond. The science ↓

Superior Suet Forcemeat, for Veal, Turkeys, &C

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

Mix the suet and bread crumbs in a bowl.
Add parsley, salt, cayenne, mace, and nutmeg; mix well.
Incorporate the egg yolks and milk until smooth.
Pound the mixture in a mortar until perfectly smooth.

Shape and fry

Let it cool for at least 30 minutes.
Roll into balls, then flour them.
Fry gently for 7 to 8 minutes 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.

Parsley + peppertop 2% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together34,122 recipes

Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
Parsley + nutmegtop 3% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together5,062 recipes

Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
Mace + nutmegtop 4% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together6,557 recipes

Shared aroma: myristicin (spice, warm).
Pepper + nutmegtop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together13,015 recipes

Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
Beef + peppertop 10% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together18,971 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

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

What each ingredient does

Beef kidney suet: Provides fat that melts during frying, keeping the forcemeat moist and rich.
Bread crumbs: Give body and bind the mixture, absorbing moisture from the milk and yolks.
Egg yolks: Bind the mixture and help it set firm while frying.
Milk: Adds moisture and softens the crumbs into a smooth paste.

The step that matters

Pounding until perfectly smooth. Thorough pounding breaks the suet and crumbs into a uniform paste, so the balls hold together and cook evenly rather than crumbling or splitting in the pan.

Swap the mace

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (beef, bread, parsley, pepper, nutmeg, egg, milk):

Marjoramfits better
Cinnamonfits better
Thymefits better
Macethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against beef, bread, parsley, pepper, nutmeg, egg, milk. 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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Superior Suet Forcemeat, for Veal, Turkeys, &C