Name: Chicken Croquettes
Ingredients: one-half pound of bread crumbs; one-half pint of the chicken broth; one-fourth pound of butter; one teaspoon of chopped onion; one cup of sweetbreads; a small piece of fresh lean boiled pork may be used instead of the mushrooms; one good sized chicken until tender; four eggs mix all together; salt; pepper; parsley

Why it works: Chicken and pork match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 5,417 recipes. Both carry 2-furfurylthiol, which smells coffee, roasted. The science ↓

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.

Chicken + porktop 2% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together5,417 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-furfurylthiol (coffee, roasted).
Chicken + mushroomtop 4% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together4,172 recipes

Shared aroma: 1-butyl acetate (fruity, banana).
Bread + buttertop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together27,232 recipes

Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).
Butter + mushroomtop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together12,525 recipes

Shared aroma: trans-2-decenal (waxy, orange).
Pork + mushroomtop 8% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together3,875 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-methoxy-4-propylphenol (allspice, anise).

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

What each ingredient does

Eggs: Bind the mixture so the croquettes hold their shape when cooked.
Bread crumbs: Soak up the broth to give the filling body and a soft, moist texture.
Butter: Adds fat and richness to the filling, softening its texture.
Chicken broth: Moistens the bread crumbs and keeps the filling tender.

The step that matters

Drop into boiling lard enough to cover them. The filling is soft and moist, so it must be fully submerged in hot fat to brown quickly and set a crisp outer crust before it breaks apart or absorbs grease.

Swap the onion

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (bread, chicken, butter, pork, mushroom, egg, pepper):

Capsicumfits better
Potatofits better
Asparagusfits better
Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against bread, chicken, butter, pork, mushroom, egg, pepper. 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.

Ingredient	Portion assumed	kcal
Flour	1 cup (125g) all-purpose	455
Pork	100g cooked	242
Chicken	100g cooked	165
Butter	1 tbsp (14g)	102
Egg	1 large egg (50g)	78
Onion	1 medium (110g)	44
Mushroom	1/2 cup sliced (35g)	15
Black Pepper	1 tsp ground (2.3g)	6
Parsley	1 tbsp chopped fresh (3.8g)	1
Salt	1 tsp (6g)	0

Chicken Croquettes