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Hash and Croquettes

A dish of minced leftover meat and potatoes formed into cakes, coated in egg and breadcrumbs, and fried.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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Why it works: Potato and pepper are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 9% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 8,305 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓

Hash and Croquettes

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Mince the leftover cooked meat and potatoes.

  2. Season with salt and pepper.

  3. Form the mixture into small cakes.

Coat and fry

  1. Dip each cake in beaten egg, then coat with breadcrumbs.

  2. Fry in butter until golden brown.

  3. Serve hot.

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

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

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

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

  3. Meat + potatotop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together786 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-one (mushroom, metallic).

  4. Meat + buttertop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together7,594 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

  5. Butter + eggtop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together118,967 recipes

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

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

What each ingredient does

Leftover cooked meat
Provides the main filling and savory flavor of the croquettes.
Potatoes
Bind the minced mixture and add moisture so the cakes hold their shape.
Butter
Fats the pan and promotes browning and a golden crust during frying.
Breadcrumbs
Form a crisp outer coating that browns when fried.
Egg
Acts as a binder that helps the breadcrumb coating adhere to the cakes.

The step that matters

Fry in butter until golden brown. The cakes are already cooked, so frying is only for crisping and browning. Medium heat lets the crust brown before the interior dries out, and cakes that are not fully coated may break apart in the pan.

Swap the potato

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

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

Fit is the average pairing score against meat, pepper, 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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