Why it works: Bread and butter are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 27,232 recipes. Both carry delta-decalactone, which smells sweet, creamy. The science ↓
Potato Croquettes
Ingredients
Directions
Make the potato mixture
Pass the potatoes through a colander while warm.
Mix the butter with the potatoes, adding cream to help pass them through.
Add salt, pepper, nutmeg, and one beaten egg; mix thoroughly.
Shape and coat
Shape the mixture into rolls about 4 inches long and 1½ inches thick, or form into flat rounds with smooth surfaces.
Beat the remaining egg on a plate.
Roll the croquettes in the egg, then in the grated bread until coated.
Fry and serve
Heat lard in a deep pan and fry the croquettes until light brown.
Drain on brown paper and serve on a napkin.
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.
Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it
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.
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Bread + buttertop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together27,232 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).
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Nutmeg + peppertop 7% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together13,015 recipes
Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
-
Butter + creamtop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together41,516 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
-
Potato + nutmegtop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,052 recipes
Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
-
Potato + peppertop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked 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 bulk of the croquettes, giving a soft, starchy interior.
- Butter
- Adds fat and richness, softening the potato mixture.
- Cream
- Adds moisture so the warm potatoes pass through easily and stay tender.
- Eggs
- Bind the mixture and form the coating that helps the crumbs stick.
- Grated bread
- Forms a crisp outer crust that browns when fried.
The step that matters
Frying until light brown. The coating browns as it fries; too little heat leaves the crumbs greasy and pale, while too much browns the outside before the potato inside is hot.
Swap the potato
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (bread, butter, cream, nutmeg, egg, pepper):
- Spinachfits about as well
- Leekfits about as well
- Capsicumfits about as well
- Potatothe original
Fit is the average pairing score against bread, butter, cream, nutmeg, egg, pepper. 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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