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Quenelles and Boudins

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 11 ingredients
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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 ↓

Quenelles and Boudins

Ingredients

Directions

  1. Scrape and mince the veal fillet.

  2. Mince the beef suet, ensuring it is free from strings and skins.

  3. Chop the parsley, onions, and mushrooms.

  4. Combine the meats and chopped ingredients, then season with pepper, salt, allspice, and mace.

  5. Pound the mixture well, adding the eggs one at a time and a little water.

  6. Form a small ball of the mixture and boil it in water to test for seasoning and texture.

  7. Adjust the mixture by adding another egg for firmness or more water for liquidity if needed.

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

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

  2. Parsley + allspicetop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,289 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  3. Beef + mushroomtop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together3,232 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-nonadienal (fatty, green).

  4. Pepper + allspicetop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together6,395 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  5. Beef + oniontop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together17,092 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

Swap the mace

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (veal, beef, parsley, onion, mushroom, pepper, allspice):

  1. Thymefits better
  2. Marjoramfits better
  3. Winter savoryfits better
  4. Macethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against veal, beef, parsley, onion, mushroom, pepper, allspice. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

More quenelles recipes

Veal 21Chicken 13of Fowl 11Fish 8Lobster 7Meat 6 See all 18 →

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