Skip to main content
Main

Chicken Croquettes

Fried rolls of finely chopped chicken mixed with a thickened butter‑milk sauce and coated in breadcrumbs.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
By Martin, Maria Ewing, Mrs., [from old catalog] comp · From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 4 ingredients
Jump to recipe ↓

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 ↓

Chicken Croquettes

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Chop a cold boiled chicken very finely, leaving out the skin and gristle.

Make the sauce

  1. Rub 2 tablespoons butter with 2 tablespoons flour in a hot saucepan, and add 1 cup milk very slowly, stirring until thick; take off heat, stir in the chicken and season with salt, pepper and a little nutmeg.

  2. Add a few drops of onion juice, a little celery salt, or finely chopped parsley; also chopped mushrooms or calf's brains may be added.

Shape and fry

  1. When the mixture is cold, take a large tablespoon at a time, form with cracker crumbs into a roll, dip in beaten egg and roll in crumbs again, and fry in deep, hot fat or lard.

  2. Turkey and Sweetbread Croquettes are made in the same way.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

257Calories
8 gProtein
20 gFat
14 gCarbs
What these numbers assume: 4 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Milk1 cup (244ml) whole149
Butter1 tbsp (14g)102
Black Pepper1 tsp ground (2.3g)6
Salt1 tsp (6g)0

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

By Martin, Maria Ewing, Mrs., [from old catalog] comp. 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. Butter + milktop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together81,283 recipes

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

  2. Butter + peppertop 21% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together85,593 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).

  3. Milk + peppertop 22% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together26,984 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl 2-methylbutyrate (fruity, apple).

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

What each ingredient does

Chicken (in the method)
Forms the main body of the croquette, giving the filling its substance and flavour.
Butter
Enriches the sauce with fat, adding richness and a smoother mouthfeel.
Flour (in the method)
Thickens the milk with butter into a stable white sauce that holds the chicken together.
Milk
Forms the liquid base of the white sauce, which sets thick as it cools.
Egg (in the method)
Binds the outer coating so the cracker crumbs stick during frying.
Cracker crumbs (in the method)
Form a crisp, browned coating when fried in hot fat.

The step that matters

Adding the milk to the butter and flour. Adding the milk slowly while stirring keeps the flour smooth and prevents lumps, so the sauce thickens evenly and binds the chicken properly.

“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.

More chicken croquettes recipes

Mock 6Italian 4 See all 418 →

You might also like

Tomato SoupTomato Soup526 recipesBrown BreadBrown Bread461 recipesMutton BrothMutton Broth292 recipesYorkshire PuddingYorkshire Pudding264 recipes