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Ham Croquettes

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

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 9 ingredients
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Ham Croquettes

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 ↓

Ham Croquettes

Ingredients

Directions

Make the mixture

  1. In a bowl, combine the chopped ham, mashed potatoes, cream, butter, black pepper, and cayenne pepper. Mix the ingredients well until fully combined.

  2. Roll the mixture into round or oval balls.

Coat and fry

  1. Dip each ball into the egg, then coat with fine bread crumbs, repeating the dipping process.

  2. Fry the croquettes in very hot fat until golden brown.

Serve

  1. Serve on a platter garnished with parsley.

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

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

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

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

  3. Butter + breadtop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together27,232 recipes

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

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

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

  5. Cream + buttertop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together41,516 recipes

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

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

What each ingredient does

Boiled ham
Provides the savoury meat flavour that defines the croquette.
Mashed potatoes
Forms the soft body of the filling and holds the balls together.
Cream
Adds moisture and richness, keeping the filling tender.
Butter
Adds fat for flavour and a smooth, tender texture in the filling.
Egg
Binds the breadcrumb coating so it adheres during frying.
Fine bread crumbs
Form a crisp, golden outer crust when fried.

The step that matters

Frying in very hot fat. Fat that is very hot sets the bread crumb coating quickly and browns it before the filling overheats or the croquette absorbs excess oil. Fat that is too cool produces greasy, soggy croquettes that may fall apart.

Swap the potato

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

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

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