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Cheese Croquettes

Cheese croquettes are small fried cheese cakes made from a cheese and flour mixture.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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Why it works: Butter and milk are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 81,283 recipes. Both carry (z)-4-heptenal, which smells biscuit, cream. The science ↓

Cheese Croquettes

Ingredients

Directions

The book gives no cooking times; the times in the steps were added in transcription, so check for doneness rather than trusting the clock.

Make the cheese base

  1. In a saucepan, melt the butter over medium heat.

  2. Stir in the flour and cook for 1-2 minutes.

  3. Gradually add the milk, stirring constantly until thickened.

  4. Remove from heat and mix in the egg yolks until well blended.

  5. Add the grated cheese and stir until melted.

  6. Season with cayenne, salt, and pepper.

  7. Spread the mixture in a shallow pan and let it cool.

Shape and fry

  1. Once cooled, turn it out onto a board and cut into small squares or strips.

  2. Dip each piece in breadcrumbs, then in beaten egg, and again in breadcrumbs.

  3. Fry in deep fat until golden brown.

  4. Serve as a cheese course.

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. Butter + milktop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together81,283 recipes

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

  2. Butter + cheesetop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together7,962 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).

  3. Milk + cheesetop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,426 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).

  4. Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together124,287 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  5. Flour + milktop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together78,219 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, 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

Butter
Enriches the roux base and adds richness and flavour to the sauce.
Flour
Thickens the melted butter and milk into a stiff sauce that can hold its shape when cooled.
Milk
Forms the liquid body of the sauce, which thickens as the flour starches gelatinise.
Egg yolks
Add richness and help bind the sauce into a smooth, cohesive mixture.
Mild cheese
Provides the main flavour and melts into the sauce, giving it body and richness.

The step that matters

Cool the mixture fully before shaping. The sauce must set firm when chilled; if it is still warm or too loose, the pieces will slump and break apart in the hot fat.

“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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