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Potato Rissoles

Potato rissoles are mashed potato patties stuffed with tomato, breadcrumbs, and herbs, then fried.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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Why it works: Potato and parsley are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,855 recipes. Both carry 4'-methylacetophenone, which smells bitter almond. The science ↓

Potato Rissoles

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Prepare stiff mashed potatoes.

  2. In a bowl, mix breadcrumbs, chopped tomato, parsley, and beaten egg to make stuffing.

Shape and fill

  1. Shape the mashed potatoes into two rounds.

  2. Create a hollow in one round.

  3. Fill the hollow with stuffing.

  4. Press the other round on top.

  5. Roll the assembled rissoles in egg and breadcrumbs.

Fry

  1. Fry in hot oil 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.

  1. Potato + parsleytop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,855 recipes

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

  2. Potato + tomatotop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together2,798 recipes

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

  3. Tomato + parsleytop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together5,398 recipes

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

  4. Parsley + eggtop 21% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together18,765 recipes

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

  5. Potato + eggtop 29% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,978 recipes

    Shared aroma: (e)-2-octenal (fatty, green).

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

What each ingredient does

Stiff mashed potatoes
Forms the main body of the rissole and holds its shape around the filling.
Beaten egg
Binds the stuffing and coats the outside so the crumbs adhere.
Breadcrumbs
Form a crisp coating that browns when fried in hot oil.
Chopped tomato
Adds moisture and a little acidity to the stuffing.

The step that matters

Sealing the stuffed rissoles. If the top round is not pressed firmly onto the filled hollow, the edges can open during frying and the stuffing may leak into the oil. A tight seal keeps the filling moist inside the potato shell while the outside browns.

Swap the tomato

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (potato, parsley, egg):

  1. Chivefits better
  2. Carrotfits better
  3. Asparagusfits better
  4. Tomatothe original

Fit is the average pairing score against potato, parsley, egg. 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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