Why it works: Cream and butter are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 8% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 41,516 recipes. Both carry delta-dodecalactone, which smells sweet, creamy. The science ↓
Salmon Croquettes
Ingredients
Directions
Make the salmon mixture
Chop the salmon finely.
In a saucepan, mix the butter and flour together.
Bring the cream to a boil.
Stir in the flour and butter mixture, along with the salmon and seasoning.
Boil for one minute.
Stir in one well-beaten egg.
Remove from heat.
Allow the mixture to cool.
Shape and fry
Shape into croquettes.
Dip each croquette in beaten egg.
Roll in breadcrumbs.
Fry until golden.
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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Cream + buttertop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together41,516 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
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Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Salmon + creamtop 14% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together1,401 recipes
Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-one (mushroom, metallic).
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Flour + eggtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together106,462 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Salmon + buttertop 16% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together4,481 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,6-nonadienal (cucumber, green).
Butter and flour barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 124,287 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
- Salmon
- Forms the main body and flavour of the croquettes.
- Eggs
- Bind the mixture and form a crust-coating that helps the croquettes hold together.
- Flour
- Thickens the cream and butter so the mixture holds its shape.
- Cream
- Adds moisture and richness to the salmon mixture.
- Breadcrumbs
- Form a crisp, golden outer coating when fried.
- Butter
- Adds fat and richness, and works with the flour to thicken the mixture.
The step that matters
Allow the mixture to cool. A hot, loose mixture will not hold its shape when shaped and coated. Cooling lets the starch in the flour-thickened cream set, so the croquettes keep their form through breading and frying.
“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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