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Croquettes of Shad-roes

A fried croquette made from shad roe, butter, flour, cream, eggs, and spices, served with lemon and tartar sauce.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 16 ingredients
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Why it works: Parsley and pepper 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 ↓

Croquettes of Shad-roes

Ingredients

Directions

Cook the roe

  1. Place the shad-roes in a saucepan with boiling salted water and cook slowly for 15 minutes.

  2. Remove from heat, peel off the skin, and mash the shad-roes.

Make the mixture

  1. Melt the butter in the saucepan.

  2. Add the flour and stir until hot.

  3. Gradually add the cream.

  4. Stir until smooth and thick.

  5. Remove from heat and stir in the egg yolks, parsley, salt, pepper, nutmeg, cayenne, and the mashed shad-roes.

  6. Mix the mixture well.

  7. Spread the mixture on a platter to cool.

Shape, coat and fry

  1. Flour your hands.

  2. Shape the mixture into croquettes.

  3. Dip each croquette in the beaten egg.

  4. Roll the croquettes in bread crumbs.

  5. Dip the croquettes in beaten egg again.

  6. Refrigerate for at least 1 hour before frying.

  7. Heat oil until very hot.

  8. Fry the croquettes until golden brown.

  9. Drain on folded brown paper.

  10. Serve with lemon slices and tartar sauce.

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.

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. Parsley + peppertop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together34,122 recipes

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

  2. Parsley + nutmegtop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together5,062 recipes

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

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

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

  4. Butter + creamtop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together41,516 recipes

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

  5. Flour + nutmegtop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together18,623 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

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

What each ingredient does

Shad-roes
Provide the main flavour and body of the croquette filling.
Flour
Thickens the butter and cream into a stiff base that holds the croquettes together.
Egg yolks
Enrich the filling and help bind it as it sets.
Cream
Adds moisture and richness, giving the filling a smooth, soft texture.
Bread crumbs
Form a crisp, golden outer crust when fried.
Butter
Adds fat and flavour to the base and helps the crust brown.

The step that matters

Chill the shaped croquettes before frying. A soft, warm mixture can crack or fall apart in hot oil. Chilling firms the filling and fat so the coating holds and the croquettes keep their shape while frying.

Swap the parsley

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (roe, butter, flour, cream, egg, pepper, nutmeg):

  1. Parsleythe original
  2. Cinnamonfits about as well
  3. Capersfits less well
  4. Tarragonfits less well

Fit is the average pairing score against roe, butter, flour, cream, egg, pepper, nutmeg. 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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