Skip to main content
Main

Potato Croquettes

Small fried balls of seasoned mashed potatoes coated in cracker dust.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 11 ingredients
Jump to recipe ↓
Potato Croquettes

Why it works: Pepper and parsley match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 34,122 recipes. Both carry 4'-methylacetophenone, which smells bitter almond. The science ↓

Potato Croquettes

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Season the cold mashed potatoes with salt, pepper, and nutmeg.

  2. Beat in melted butter until creamy.

  3. Add beaten eggs and chopped parsley, mixing well.

  4. Roll the mixture into small balls.

Coat and fry

  1. Dip each ball in a mixture of egg and milk, then coat with cracker dust.

  2. 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. Pepper + parsleytop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together34,122 recipes

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

  2. Nutmeg + parsleytop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together5,062 recipes

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

  3. Potato + parsleytop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,855 recipes

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

  4. Butter + milktop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together81,283 recipes

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

  5. Pepper + nutmegtop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together13,015 recipes

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

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

What each ingredient does

Cold mashed potatoes
Form the bulk of the croquette, giving body and a soft, moist interior.
Melted butter
Adds fat for a smooth, creamy texture and richer flavor.
Beaten eggs
Bind the mixture so the balls hold their shape while frying.
Cracker dust
Forms a crisp, golden coating that browns during frying.

The step that matters

Fry in hot lard until golden brown. Oil or fat that is hot enough seals the coating quickly, so it browns and crisps before the interior heats through and the croquettes absorb excess grease. Frying in cooler fat makes them soggy and greasy.

Swap the potato

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

  1. Potatothe original
  2. Capsicumfits about as well
  3. Carrotfits about as well
  4. Shallotfits about as well

Fit is the average pairing score against pepper, nutmeg, butter, egg, parsley, milk. 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.

More potato croquettes recipes

Sweet 58 See all 311 →

You might also like

Potato RollsPotato Rolls78 recipesPotato ChipsPotato Chips53 recipesPotato BiscuitPotato Biscuit32 recipesPotato SnowPotato Snow23 recipes