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Potato Rissoles

A fried ball of mashed potatoes mixed with butter, parsley, egg, and breadcrumbs, optionally with ham or onion.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 10 ingredients
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Why it works: Pepper and parsley 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 ↓

Potato Rissoles

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the filling

  1. Boil and mash the potatoes, then season with salt, pepper, butter, and chopped parsley.

  2. For added flavor, mix in chopped ham or tongue and onion before forming the balls.

  3. Form the potato mixture into small balls.

Coat and fry

  1. Dip each ball into the beaten egg, then coat with breadcrumbs.

  2. Heat oil in a pan and fry the balls for 2-3 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.

  1. Pepper + parsleytop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together34,122 recipes

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

  2. Potato + oniontop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together9,023 recipes

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

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

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

  4. Parsley + oniontop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together25,843 recipes

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

  5. Potato + peppertop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together8,305 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

Potatoes
Form the body of the rissole and give it a soft, fluffy interior.
Butter
Adds richness and moisture to the mashed potato.
Egg
Binds the coating so the breadcrumbs stick to the balls.
Breadcrumbs
Form a crisp outer crust that browns during frying.

The step that matters

Coat and fry. The egg must fully cover each ball so the breadcrumbs adhere. Frying in hot oil until golden browns the crumbs and crisps the crust while the potato inside heats through.

Swap the onion

The recipe marks onion as optional. How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (potato, pepper, butter, parsley, egg, ham):

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

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