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Ham Croquettes

Ham croquettes are fried balls of mashed potatoes and chopped ham coated in breadcrumbs.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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Ham Croquettes

Why it works: Butter and bread are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 27,232 recipes. Both carry delta-decalactone, which smells sweet, creamy. The science ↓

Ham Croquettes

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. In a bowl, combine the mashed potatoes, chopped ham, butter, and beaten eggs. Season with salt and pepper.

  2. Shape the mixture into balls.

Coat and fry

  1. Roll each ball in bread crumbs.

  2. Dip each ball in beaten egg.

  3. Roll each ball again in bread crumbs.

  4. Fry the croquettes in hot oil 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. Butter + breadtop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together27,232 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).

  2. Ham + breadtop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,536 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-acetyl-1-pyrroline (popcorn, roasted).

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

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

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

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

  5. Egg + breadtop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together22,662 recipes

    Shared aroma: (e)-2-octenal (fatty, green).

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

What each ingredient does

Mashed potatoes
Form the bulk of the croquette and give a soft, moist interior.
Eggs
Bind the mixture so the balls hold their shape while frying.
Bread crumbs
Form a crisp, golden outer crust when fried.
Butter
Adds richness and moisture to the potato mixture.

The step that matters

Coat the balls twice and keep them firm before frying. The double coating of bread crumbs, egg and crumbs again creates a sturdy crust. If the balls are soft or poorly coated, they can break apart or leak in hot oil, so chilling them briefly helps them hold together.

Swap the potato

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

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

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