Skip to main content
Main

Fish Croquettes

A fried fish and potato mixture formed into balls and coated with breadcrumbs.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 10 ingredients
Jump to recipe ↓
Fish Croquettes

Why it works: Pepper and parsley match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 34,122 recipes. Both carry 4'-methylacetophenone, which smells bitter almond. The science ↓

Fish Croquettes

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Mix the fish, egg, mashed potatoes, pepper, hot milk, salt, butter, and parsley thoroughly.

  2. Set the mixture aside to cool.

Shape and coat

  1. Once cool, shape the mixture into balls.

  2. Roll the balls in fine bread crumbs.

  3. Dip them in beaten egg mixed with 1 tablespoon of water.

  4. Roll again in bread crumbs.

Fry and serve

  1. Fry in hot oil until golden brown and serve immediately.

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.

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. Pepper + parsleytop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together34,122 recipes

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

  2. Potato + parsleytop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,855 recipes

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

  3. Butter + breadtop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together27,232 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).

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

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

  5. Potato + peppertop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together8,305 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

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

What each ingredient does

Cooked fish
Provides the main flesh and flavor of the croquettes.
Egg
Binds the mixture together and helps the coating adhere.
Mashed potatoes
Adds body and moisture so the mixture holds its shape.
Butter
Adds richness and a smooth, tender texture.
Bread crumbs
Forms a crisp outer crust that browns during frying.

The step that matters

Let the mixture cool before shaping. A warm, soft mixture is sticky and falls apart when shaped and coated. Cooling lets the starches and egg firm up so the balls hold their form through frying.

Swap the parsley

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (fish, egg, potato, pepper, milk, butter, bread):

  1. Parsleythe original
  2. Nutmegfits about as well
  3. Thymefits less well
  4. Cinnamonfits less well

Fit is the average pairing score against fish, egg, potato, pepper, milk, butter, bread. 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.

You might also like

Brown BreadBrown Bread461 recipesPotato CroquettesPotato Croquettes255 recipesFried FishFried Fish120 recipesWhite BreadWhite Bread80 recipes