Why it works: Milk and butter 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 ↓
Rice Croquettes with Jelly
Ingredients
Directions
Cook the rice
Wash the rice.
Add the rice to boiling water with salt.
Cover and steam until the rice absorbs the water.
Add the scalded milk.
Stir lightly with a fork. Cover.
Steam until the rice is soft.
Remove from heat.
Add egg yolks and butter.
Spread the mixture on a shallow plate to cool.
Shape and coat
Shape the cooled rice mixture into small balls.
Roll in breadcrumbs.
Shape into nests.
Dip each nest in beaten egg.
Roll in breadcrumbs again.
Place a cube of jelly in each croquette.
Fry and serve
Fry in deep fat until golden brown.
Drain on paper towels.
Arrange on a folded napkin.
Garnish with parsley or serve around game.
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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Milk + buttertop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together81,283 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
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Rice + milktop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together7,374 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Rice + parsleytop 10% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together2,762 recipes
Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
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Butter + parsleytop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together28,563 recipes
Shared aroma: trans-2-hexenal (green, leafy).
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Rice + buttertop 16% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together9,645 recipes
Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Rice
- Starch that softens and thickens into a moldable base for the croquettes.
- Scalded milk
- Adds moisture and softness, helping the rice swell and bind.
- Egg yolks
- Bind the cooled rice mixture and add richness to hold its shape.
- Butter
- Adds fat for richness and a tender texture.
- Breadcrumbs
- Form a crisp, golden coating that browns during frying.
- Beaten egg
- Glues the breadcrumb coating to the rice shape so it stays intact.
The step that matters
Cool the rice mixture before shaping. Warm rice is soft and sticky, so it tears and sticks to the hands. Spreading it to cool firms the starch so the balls and nests keep their shape through breading and frying.
Swap the parsley
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (rice, egg, milk, butter):
- Cinnamonfits better
- Nutmegfits better
- Parsleythe original
- Turmericfits about as well
Fit is the average pairing score against rice, egg, milk, butter. 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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