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Ham Croquettes

A fried snack of mashed potatoes and ham coated in egg and cracker crumbs.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 5 ingredients
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Ham Croquettes

Why it works: Potato and pepper are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 9% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 8,305 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓

Ham Croquettes

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the filling

  1. Mix hot mashed potatoes, butter, and 2 egg yolks until cool.

  2. In a frying pan, combine the remaining yolk with the ham and stir over heat for 1 minute.

Shape and fry

  1. Form balls of mashed potatoes, pressing a large teaspoon of ham into each ball.

  2. Fold the potato over the ham, roll in egg, then in cracker crumbs.

  3. Fry in hot lard until golden brown.

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

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

  2. Potato + buttertop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together6,456 recipes

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

  3. Ham + buttertop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together5,475 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-decenal (waxy, orange).

  4. Ham + eggtop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,526 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).

  5. Butter + eggtop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together118,967 recipes

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

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

What each ingredient does

Mashed potatoes
Forms the soft body that holds the croquette together and gives it a tender interior.
Egg yolks
Bind the potato mixture and add richness that helps it hold its shape.
Butter
Adds fat for a smoother, richer texture in the potato mixture.
Grated ham
Provides the savoury, salty flavour at the centre of each croquette.
Red pepper
Adds a light background heat that sharpens the flavour of the ham.

The step that matters

Frying in hot lard until golden brown. Hot fat quickly sets the coating and browns it, sealing the filling inside. If the lard is too cool, the croquettes soak up grease, turn heavy, and can fall apart.

Swap the potato

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (ham, butter, egg, pepper):

  1. Capsicumfits better
  2. Asparagusfits better
  3. Mustardfits about as well
  4. Potatothe original

Fit is the average pairing score against ham, butter, egg, 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.

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