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Potato Croquettes

A fried dish of mashed potato balls coated in breadcrumbs.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 ingredients
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Potato Croquettes

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 ↓

Potato Croquettes

Ingredients

Directions

Make the mixture

  1. In a bowl, combine the mashed potatoes, melted butter, white pepper, cayenne pepper, salt, celery salt, and onion juice.

  2. Mix until very light and slightly cool, then add the egg yolk and mix well.

  3. Rub the mixture through a sieve to ensure smoothness.

Shape and coat

  1. Form the mixture into balls.

  2. Roll each ball in fine bread crumbs, dip in beaten egg, then roll in crumbs again.

Fry

  1. Fry the croquettes 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 + oniontop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together9,023 recipes

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

  2. Pepper + celerytop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together16,012 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

  3. Potato + celerytop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,047 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

  4. Celery + oniontop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together18,518 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

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

Mashed potatoes
Provide the bulk and soft body that the croquettes are formed from.
Egg yolk
Adds richness and helps bind the mixture so it holds its shape.
Butter
Adds fat and richness, softening the mashed potato texture.
Bread crumbs (in the method)
Form a crisp, golden outer crust when fried.

The step that matters

Frying in hot lard. If the fat is not hot enough, croquettes absorb oil and turn greasy before the crust sets; if too hot, the outside browns before the centre heats through.

Swap the white pepper

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

  1. Parsleyfits better
  2. Thymefits better
  3. Dillfits better
  4. White pepperthe original

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