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Ham Croquettes

A fried snack of grated ham mixed with crumbs, butter, mustard, pepper, Worcestershire sauce, and egg.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 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, combine the grated ham, cracker or bread crumbs, butter, mustard, pepper, and Worcestershire sauce, then mix well and form the mixture into small croquettes.

  2. Roll each croquette in beaten egg, then coat with additional crumbs.

Fry

  1. Heat lard in a pan and fry the croquettes 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. Mustard + peppertop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together15,430 recipes

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

  4. Mustard + saucetop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,120 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

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

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

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

What each ingredient does

Bottled ham
Provides the main meaty flavour and bulk of the croquette.
Cracker or bread crumbs
Absorbs moisture and binds the mixture so it holds its shape.
Egg
Binds the croquettes and creates a coating that helps the crumbs adhere.
Butter
Adds richness and fat for a softer, more flavourful interior.

The step that matters

Coat evenly with egg and crumbs. Croquettes can split or fall apart in hot fat if the egg-and-crumb coating is patchy or thin. A full, even coat seals the surface, so the croquette holds together and browns uniformly when fried.

Swap the mustard

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

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

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