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Hamburg Croquettes

A savory dish of seasoned ground steak and mashed potatoes formed into croquettes, coated in crumbs, baked in buttered water, served hot.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 11 ingredients
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Why it works: Potato and onion are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 3% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 9,023 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓

Hamburg Croquettes

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the croquettes

  1. Mix together the ground steak, cold mashed potatoes, milk, salt, pepper, and chopped onion if desired.

  2. Form the mixture into cylinder-shaped croquettes, flattening the ends.

  3. Beat the egg with water in a bowl.

  4. Dip each croquette into the egg mixture, then roll in cracker crumbs.

Roast and serve

  1. Place the croquettes side by side in a roasting pan.

  2. Melt the butter in the boiling water and pour it over the croquettes.

  3. Cover the pan and roast until browned.

  4. Serve each hot croquette on a lettuce leaf with a bit of mayonnaise.

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.

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. Potato + oniontop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together9,023 recipes

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

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

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

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

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

  4. Potato + milktop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together3,611 recipes

    Shared aroma: (e,z)-2,6-nonadienal (cucumber, melon).

  5. Pepper + oniontop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together68,474 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

Ground steak
Forms the main body of the croquettes and provides the meaty flavor.
Cold mashed potatoes
Binds the mixture and adds moisture and softness to the croquettes.
Egg
Coats the croquettes so the cracker crumbs adhere and help form a crust.
Milk
Adds moisture to the mixture, keeping it tender as it cooks.
Cracker crumbs
Form a crisp, browned outer coating on the croquettes.

The step that matters

Roast until browned. The pan is covered, so browning depends on the buttered boiling water and the croquette coating. Check colour near the end, since covered cooking can leave the surface pale and the meat must be cooked through.

Swap the onion

The recipe marks onion as optional. How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (potato, milk, pepper, egg, butter):

  1. Capsicumfits better
  2. Asparagusfits better
  3. Chivefits better
  4. Onionthe original

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

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