Name: Almond Croquettes
Ingredients: 2 tablespoons butter; 1 cup milk; 2 tablespoons flour; 1 cup almonds after they have been blanched; 1 pint of thick white sauce; 1 cup thick white sauce; 1 cup bread crumbs; 1 cup left-over salmon; 1 cup white sauce; 1 tablespoon lemon 2 egg yolks; 1/2 cup bread crumbs; one chicken after it has been steamed tender; half mashed potatoes; 2 egg yolks; 20 min- utes; pepper; salt

Why it works: Flour and almond are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 8,673 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. 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.

Flour + almondtop 5% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together8,673 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Butter + breadtop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together27,232 recipes

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

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together81,283 recipes

Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
Almond + lemontop 10% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together5,655 recipes

Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).
Milk + breadtop 11% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together11,466 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-undecenal (sweet).

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

What each ingredient does

Butter: Enriches the base and gives the thickened milk a rich, smooth flavour.
Flour: Thickens the milk into a sauce that sets firm enough to cut into squares.
Milk: Forms the liquid base that the flour thickens into a binding sauce.
Almonds: Provide the main flavour and bulk, and their browning adds a nutty aroma.

The step that matters

Let the mixture cool before shaping. A warm, loose mixture will not hold its shape when cut and fried. Cooling lets the starch in the thickened milk set, so the squares keep their form in the pan.

Swap the lemon

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

Avocadofits better
Coconutfits better
Raisinfits better
Lemonthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against butter, milk, flour, almond, sauce, bread, salmon. 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
Salmon	100g cooked	208
Chicken	100g cooked	165
Potato	1 medium (173g) baked	161
Milk	1 cup (244ml) whole	149
Butter	1 tbsp (14g)	102
Egg	1 large egg (50g)	78
Lemon	juice of 1 lemon (48ml)	12
Almond	1 almond (1.2g)	7
Black Pepper	1 tsp ground (2.3g)	6
Salt	1 tsp (6g)	0
Sauce	not in our table	0

Almond Croquettes