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Salmon Croquettes

Fried croquettes made from salmon mixed with thick white sauce, butter, flour, milk, lemon juice, salt, and cayenne.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 10 ingredients
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Salmon Croquettes

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 ↓

Salmon Croquettes

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the salmon

  1. Drain one can of salmon and pour over hot water to remove as much oil as possible.

  2. Dry on a piece of cheese cloth and separate into flakes.

  3. The salmon should yield one and three-fourths cupfuls.

Make the mixture

  1. Add one cupful of thick white sauce, three tablespoonfuls of butter, one-third cupful of flour, and one cupful of milk.

  2. Season with one and one-half teaspoonfuls of lemon juice, three-fourths teaspoonful of salt, and a few grains of cayenne.

Shape and fry

  1. Shape, crumb, and fry the mixture as with other croquettes.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

724Calories
22 gProtein
21 gFat
112 gCarbs

Counts 6 of 7 ingredients. The other 1 aren't in our nutrition table and add nothing above, so the real totals are higher.

What these numbers assume: 6 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Flour1 cup (125g) all-purpose455
Milk1 cup (244ml) whole149
Butter1 tbsp (14g)102
Lemonjuice of 1 lemon (48ml)12
Cayenne1 tsp (1.8g)6
Salt1 tsp (6g)0
Saucenot in our table0

One typical portion per ingredient; the recipe's quantities are not counted. A rough guide only, not for medical or dietary planning.

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. See the original page.

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.

  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. Cheese + milktop 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

Salmon (in the method)
Provides the main flaked body and savory flavor of the croquettes.
Thick white sauce
Binds the flakes together and adds creamy moisture.
Butter
Adds richness and fat for flavor and a tender texture.
Flour
Thickens the sauce so the mixture holds together.
Milk
Adds moisture and creaminess to the mixture.
Lemon juice
Adds acidity that brightens the flavor of the salmon.

The step that matters

Shape, crumb, and fry the mixture. The white sauce's starch thickens and sets as it cools, binding the flakes so croquettes hold their shape. A firm, well-coated crumb crisps in hot fat, so a loose mixture can break apart during frying.

Swap the lemon

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sauce, butter, flour, cheese, milk):

  1. Figfits better
  2. Vanillafits better
  3. Coconutfits better
  4. Lemonthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against sauce, butter, flour, cheese, milk. 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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