Why it works: Bread and butter are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 27,232 recipes. Both carry delta-decalactone, which smells sweet, creamy. The science ↓
Chicken Croquettes
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
In a bowl, combine minced chicken, bread crumbs, beaten eggs, seasoning, and enough drawn butter to moisten.
Shape the mixture into pear‑shaped balls.
Coat and fry
Dip each ball into beaten eggs, then coat with bread crumbs.
Heat enough butter in a chafing dish to fry the croquettes until golden brown.
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.
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.
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Bread + buttertop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together27,232 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).
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Bread + eggtop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together22,662 recipes
Shared aroma: (e)-2-octenal (fatty, green).
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Chicken + breadtop 14% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together2,258 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl caproate (fruity).
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Chicken + buttertop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together13,902 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-furfurylthiol (coffee, roasted).
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Bread + peppertop 16% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together20,964 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Minced chicken
- Forms the main body of the croquettes and gives them their savory flavor.
- Bread crumbs
- Absorb moisture and bind the mixture, and form a crisp coating when fried.
- Eggs
- Bind the mixture together and help the outer coating adhere before frying.
- Drawn butter
- Moistens the mixture and adds richness and flavor to the croquettes.
The step that matters
Coating and frying the croquettes. The egg and crumb coating must be fully dry and even before frying, or it can split or fall away. Frying in enough hot butter until golden browned sets the crust and cooks the chicken through.
“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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