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Ham Croquettes

Ham croquettes are balls of ham and mashed potatoes coated in breadcrumbs, fried in butter.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 5 ingredients
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Ham Croquettes

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 ↓

Ham Croquettes

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. In a bowl, mix the chopped ham, hot mashed potatoes, bread crumbs, and beaten eggs.

  2. Form the mixture into balls.

Fry

  1. Heat butter in a pan and fry the balls 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.

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.

  1. Bread + buttertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together27,232 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).

  2. Ham + breadtop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,536 recipes

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

  3. Potato + buttertop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together6,456 recipes

    Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).

  4. Bread + eggtop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together22,662 recipes

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

  5. Potato + breadtop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together434 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

Chopped ham
Adds savoury flavour and a meaty bite to the filling.
Mashed potatoes
Provides bulk and moisture, helping the croquettes hold a soft interior.
Bread crumbs
Absorb moisture and give the outside a crisp, browned coating.
Eggs
Bind the mixture together so the balls hold their shape.

The step that matters

Forming and frying the balls. The mixture is soft and moist, so it needs to be shaped firmly and fried over steady heat. This sets the outer crust before the filling loosens, helping the croquettes keep their shape.

Swap the potato

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (ham, bread, butter, egg):

  1. Asparagusfits better
  2. Leekfits better
  3. Shallotfits about as well
  4. Potatothe original

Fit is the average pairing score against ham, bread, butter, 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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