Why it works: Butter and milk are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 81,283 recipes. Both carry (z)-4-heptenal, which smells biscuit, cream. The science ↓
Croquettes
Ingredients
Directions
The book gives no cooking times; the times in the steps were added in transcription, so check for doneness rather than trusting the clock.
Make the base
In a saucepan, melt the butter over medium heat.
Add the flour and stir to form a roux, cooking for 1-2 minutes.
Gradually whisk in the milk until smooth and thickened.
Remove from heat and stir in the egg yolks (or whole egg) and grated onion.
Shape and fry
Mix in the cooked and minced meat or vegetables until well combined.
Chill the mixture until firm, then shape into croquettes.
Fry the croquettes in deep fat 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.
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.
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Butter + milktop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together81,283 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
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Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Flour + milktop 14% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together78,219 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Butter + oniontop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together42,912 recipes
Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).
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Egg + flourtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together106,462 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
- Flour
- Forms a roux with the butter that thickens the milk into a binding base.
- Milk
- Forms the liquid body of the thickened base that holds the croquette mixture together.
- Egg yolks
- Add richness and help bind the mixture as it sets.
- Butter
- Fat that cooks with the flour to form the roux.
The step that matters
Chilling the mixture until firm. A warm, soft mixture will not hold its shape when formed and can split or spread in hot fat. Chilling lets the starch-thickened base set so the croquettes keep their form and fry evenly.
Swap the onion
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (butter, egg, flour, milk, meat):
- Potatofits better
- Asparagusfits better
- Shallotfits better
- Onionthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against butter, egg, flour, milk, meat. 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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