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Chicken Croquettes with Brains

Chicken croquettes made with chopped chicken and brains, seasoned with lemon, butter, and spices, then coated and fried.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 9 ingredients
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Why it works: Pepper and lemon match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 3% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 27,047 recipes. Both carry trans-2-nonenal, which smells cardboard, fatty. The science ↓

Chicken Croquettes with Brains

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the mixture

  1. In a bowl, combine the chopped chicken and brains.

  2. Season with salt, pepper, lemon juice, and lemon zest.

  3. Add the butter and mix well.

  4. Shape the mixture into desired forms.

Coat and fry

  1. Dip each shape in beaten egg, then roll in cracker dust or crumbs.

  2. Fry in hot oil until golden brown.

Serve

  1. Serve with tomato sauce and sliced mushrooms.

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. Pepper + lemontop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together27,047 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).

  2. Chicken + buttertop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together13,902 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-furfurylthiol (coffee, roasted).

  3. Chicken + lemontop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together5,092 recipes

    Shared aroma: (e,e)-2,4-decadienal (fatty, deep fried).

  4. Lemon + buttertop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together41,227 recipes

    Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).

  5. Chicken + peppertop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together19,958 recipes

    Shared aroma: piperonal (bitter, coconut).

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

What each ingredient does

Cold chicken
Provides the bulk of the filling and its meaty body once shaped and fried.
Calves' brains
Adds a soft, rich texture that binds with the chicken and gives the filling depth.
Butter
Adds fat and moisture, keeping the mixture tender and helping the croquettes brown.
Egg
Coats the shapes so the cracker crumbs adhere and form a crisp outer layer.
Lemon
Its juice and zest add acidity and aroma that brighten the rich filling.

The step that matters

Fry in hot oil until golden brown. If the oil is not hot enough, the coating absorbs grease and turns soggy before it crisps. Hot oil quickly sets the egg and crumb crust, sealing in moisture and giving an even golden surface.

“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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