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Veal Croquettes

A dish of cold cooked veal mixed with a white sauce, formed into balls, breaded, and fried.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
By Chicago. Bethany union church. Woman's society. [from old catalog] · From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 15 ingredients
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Why it works: Lemon and parsley match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 14,037 recipes. Both carry beta-phellandrene, which smells minty, terpene. The science ↓

Veal Croquettes

Ingredients

Directions

Make the sauce

  1. Take cold cooked veal, freed of all skin, gristle and bone and measure one and one-half cups packed solid and chopped fine.

  2. Melt two tablespoons butter.

  3. When bubbling add two tablespoons cornstarch and stir until smooth and cook two minutes.

  4. Add one cup milk and cook until smooth.

  5. Add another small cup of milk gradually, keeping stiff.

Shape and coat

  1. Add the sauce to the meat with one teaspoon salt, one teaspoon celery salt, one heaping teaspoon chopped parsley, two teaspoons lemon juice, few drops onion juice, and little white pepper.

  2. Mix well and spread out to cool.

  3. Shape into balls and roll in bread crumbs.

  4. Shape into croquettes.

  5. Roll in one beaten egg with one tablespoon of water added.

  6. Roll in crumbs again.

Fry and drain

  1. Fry in basket in kettle of hot lard.

  2. Dry on brown paper.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

809Calories
29 gProtein
26 gFat
114 gCarbs

Counts 9 of 10 ingredients. The other 1 aren't in our nutrition table and add nothing above, so the real totals are higher.

What these numbers assume: 9 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Flour1 cup (125g) all-purpose455
Milk1 cup (244ml) whole149
Butter1 tbsp (14g)102
Egg1 large egg (50g)78
Lemonjuice of 1 lemon (48ml)12
Celery1 stalk (40g)6
Black Pepper1 tsp ground (2.3g)6
Parsley1 tbsp chopped fresh (3.8g)1
Salt1 tsp (6g)0
Waternot 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.

By Chicago. Bethany union church. Woman's society. [from old catalog]. 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.

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. Lemon + parsleytop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together14,037 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

  2. Celery + parsleytop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together6,810 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

  3. Lemon + celerytop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together3,467 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

  4. Milk + buttertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together81,283 recipes

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

  5. Lemon + teatop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together610 recipes

    Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).

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

What each ingredient does

Veal (in the method)
Provides the main body and savory flavor of the croquettes.
Butter
Adds richness and helps form a smooth base for the sauce.
Cornstarch
Thickens the milk into a stiff sauce that binds the meat together.
Milk
Forms the liquid base of the sauce, giving it a creamy body.
Egg
Coats the shaped croquettes so the crumbs adhere and brown evenly.

The step that matters

Cooling the meat mixture before shaping. The sauce must be stiff and fully cooled so the mixture holds its shape; a loose or warm mixture slumps and breaks apart during frying.

Swap the white pepper

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (milk, lemon, butter, tea, celery, parsley, egg):

  1. Thymefits better
  2. Tarragonfits better
  3. Dillfits better
  4. White pepperthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against milk, lemon, butter, tea, celery, parsley, egg. 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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