Why it works: Butter and flour are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 12% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 124,287 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓
Hominy Croquettes
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Rub the cold boiled hominy smooth with the soft butter.
Add the beaten egg, sugar, and salt, and mix well.
Flour your hands and shape the mixture into croquettes.
Roll each croquette in flour and set aside in a cold place.
Fry and serve
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.
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Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Sugar + flourtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together92,116 recipes
Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).
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Egg + flourtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together106,462 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Butter + eggtop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together118,967 recipes
Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).
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Butter + sugartop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together98,233 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
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
- Hominy
- Forms the bulk of the croquette, giving it body and a soft, starchy interior.
- Butter
- Adds fat and richness, softening the mixture and tenderizing its texture.
- Egg
- Binds the mixture so the croquettes hold their shape when shaped and fried.
- Sugar
- Adds mild sweetness and helps the outside brown during frying.
The step that matters
Chilling the croquettes before frying. Setting the shaped croquettes in a cold place firms the egg and fat so they hold their shape in hot lard. Croquettes that are warm or soft may crack, spread, or fall apart while frying.
“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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