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Potato Rissoles

Stiff mashed potatoes stuffed with tomato, breadcrumbs, herbs, and egg, then fried until golden.

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 or herb seasoning, and beaten egg to make the stuffing.

Shape and fill

  1. Shape the mashed potatoes into two rounds, creating a hollow in one.

  2. Fill the hollow with stuffing and press the other round over it.

  3. Roll the filled potato 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 the shape around the filling.
Beaten egg
Binds the stuffing together and helps the breadcrumb coating stick.
Breadcrumbs
Form a crisp, golden coating that browns when fried.
Chopped tomato
Adds moisture and a little acidity to the stuffing.

The step that matters

Sealing the filled potato. If the mashed potato is not pressed firmly closed around the stuffing, the filling can leak out during frying. Stiff potato holds its shape better and keeps the stuffing contained while it heats through.

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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