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Veal Croquettes

A fried oval-shaped patty of mashed potatoes, veal, ham, and onion, coated in egg and cracker crumbs.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 11 ingredients
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Why it works: Potato and onion are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 3% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 9,023 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓

Veal Croquettes

Ingredients

Directions

Make the mixture

  1. In a bowl, combine mashed potatoes, butter, egg yolks, chopped onion, salt, and pepper.

  2. Mix in the cold chopped veal and cold ham.

  3. Moisten the mixture with a little cream and shape it into oval balls.

Coat and fry

  1. Dip each ball in beaten egg, then coat with grated cracker.

  2. Fry in hot oil until golden brown.

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. Potato + oniontop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together9,023 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  2. Butter + creamtop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together41,516 recipes

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

  3. Potato + peppertop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together8,305 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  4. Onion + peppertop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together68,474 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  5. Potato + buttertop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together6,456 recipes

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

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

What each ingredient does

Mashed potatoes
Bind the mixture and give the croquettes a soft, moist interior.
Egg yolks
Add richness and help bind the mixture together.
Butter
Adds fat for flavour and a tender, moist texture.
Cold chopped veal
Provides the main meaty body and savoury flavour of the filling.
Cold ham
Adds salty, smoky flavour to the filling.

The step that matters

Fry in hot oil until golden brown. If the oil is not hot enough, the croquettes absorb grease and turn soggy before the coating browns. Hot oil quickly sets the cracker crust and seals the filling inside.

Swap the onion

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (potato, butter, egg, pepper, veal, ham, cream):

  1. Asparagusfits about as well
  2. Onionthe original
  3. Leekfits about as well
  4. Chivefits about as well

Fit is the average pairing score against potato, butter, egg, pepper, veal, ham, cream. 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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