Why it works: Parsley and pepper 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 ↓
Egg Croquettes
Ingredients
Directions
Make the filling
Chop the hard-boiled eggs.
Combine the chopped eggs with milk, butter, flour, parsley, onion juice, salt, and pepper in a saucepan.
Cook the mixture over low heat until thickened.
Let the mixture cool in the refrigerator.
Shape and coat
Shape the cooled mixture into cylinders.
Roll each cylinder in beaten egg.
Roll each cylinder in cracker crumbs.
Fry
Fry the croquettes in hot lard 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.
-
Parsley + peppertop 2% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together34,122 recipes
Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
-
Milk + buttertop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together81,283 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
-
Parsley + oniontop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together25,843 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
-
Onion + peppertop 11% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together68,474 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
-
Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Butter and flour barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 124,287 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Hard-boiled eggs
- Form the bulk of the filling and give the croquettes their body.
- Milk
- Moistens the filling and helps it thicken into a soft, spreadable mixture.
- Flour
- Thickens the milk into a binding sauce that holds the filling together.
- Butter
- Adds richness and flavor to the thickened filling.
The step that matters
Let the mixture cool in the refrigerator. The filling must be fully chilled and firm before shaping, or the cylinders will be soft and may break or leak during coating and frying.
Swap the onion
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (egg, milk, butter, flour, parsley, pepper):
- Shallotfits better
- Chivefits better
- Potatofits better
- Onionthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against egg, milk, butter, flour, parsley, pepper. 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.
More egg croquettes recipes
You might also like
The free Flavor Lab newsletter: one surprising pairing a week and the molecular reason it works, in 60 seconds. No spam, unsubscribe anytime.
Prefer an account? Create a free account to save pairings and unlock the full chemistry.
Tomato Soup526 recipes
Brown Bread461 recipes
Mutton Broth292 recipes
Yorkshire Pudding264 recipes