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Croquettes of Loin of Pork, Sauce Robert

Croquettes of pork served with a mustard‑based sauce.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 12 ingredients
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Why it works: Onion and mustard match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 6% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 9,259 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓

Croquettes of Loin of Pork, Sauce Robert

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the croquettes

  1. Cut the cold roast pork into dice and mix with reduced Espagnol sauce and a piece of glaze.

  2. Let the mixture cool.

  3. Form the mixture into balls about 1¼ inches in diameter.

  4. In a bowl, mix the whole egg, egg yolk, and salt.

  5. Dip the croquettes in the egg mixture, then coat with bread crumbs.

Fry and make the sauce

  1. Fry the croquettes in hot fat until golden brown.

  2. For the sauce, dice the onion and boil in malt vinegar until nearly evaporated.

  3. Add Espagnol sauce and mustard to the onions, heat through, and serve around the croquettes.

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. Onion + mustardtop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together9,259 recipes

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

  2. Vinegar + mustardtop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together14,067 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  3. Pork + oniontop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together18,214 recipes

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

  4. Pork + mustardtop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,445 recipes

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

  5. Pork + breadtop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,371 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-acetyl-1-pyrroline (popcorn, roasted).

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

What each ingredient does

Cold roast pork
Forms the bulk of the croquette and supplies the meaty flavour.
Espagnol sauce
Adds moisture and savoury depth that binds the diced pork together.
Whole egg and egg yolk
Bind the croquettes and set when cooked, holding the coating in place.
Bread crumbs
Form a crisp, golden browned crust when fried.
Malt vinegar
Adds acidity that sharpens the onion and sauce flavour.
Mustard
Adds a sharp, pungent note that balances the rich sauce.

The step that matters

Frying the croquettes in hot fat. The fat must be hot enough to brown the bread crumb crust quickly. If it is too cool, the coating absorbs fat and turns greasy, and the egg inside may not set before the outside overcooks.

Swap the onion

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (pork, sauce, egg, bread, malt, vinegar, mustard):

  1. Shallotfits better
  2. Capsicumfits better
  3. Horseradishfits better
  4. Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against pork, sauce, egg, bread, malt, vinegar, mustard. 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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