Why it works: Ham and bread are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,536 recipes. Both carry 2-acetyl-1-pyrroline, which smells popcorn, roasted. The science ↓
Ham Croquettes
Ingredients
Directions
Shape
Chop the ham finely and season with pepper or mustard.
With a little flour on your hands, form the mixture into small balls.
Coat and fry
Dip each ball in the beaten egg.
Roll the balls in bread or cracker crumbs.
Fry in hot lard until light brown.
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.
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Ham + breadtop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together2,536 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-acetyl-1-pyrroline (popcorn, roasted).
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Egg + breadtop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together22,662 recipes
Shared aroma: (e)-2-octenal (fatty, green).
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Flour + eggtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together106,462 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Pepper + breadtop 16% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together20,964 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Ham + eggtop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together4,526 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
Flour and egg barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 106,462 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Ham
- Provides the main savory filling that the croquettes are built around.
- Flour
- Dries the surface of the mixture so the balls hold their shape.
- Egg
- Acts as a binder so the crumbs stick evenly to each ball.
- Bread or cracker crumbs
- Form a crisp outer coating that browns when fried.
- Lard
- Conducts heat around the croquettes and drives browning and crisping of the coating.
The step that matters
Fry in hot lard until light brown. Hot fat browns and crisps the crumb coating quickly, sealing the outside. If the lard is not hot enough, the croquettes soak up grease and the coating turns soggy rather than crisp.
“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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