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Parmesan Croquettes

Parmesan croquettes are fried balls of a mixture of Parmesan cheese, mashed potatoes, flour, butter, milk, cream, eggs, and seasonings.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 11 ingredients
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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 ↓

Parmesan Croquettes

Ingredients

Directions

Make the base

  1. In a saucepan, mix 1 ounce of flour with 2 ounces of butter and stir for 5 minutes.

  2. Add the milk, mashed potatoes, and Parmesan cheese; stir thoroughly.

  3. Add the mustard, salt, cayenne, and cream; allow to boil.

  4. Remove from heat and gradually stir in the beaten yolks of 2 eggs.

Shape and coat

  1. Let the mixture cool and harden, then shape into balls the size of small walnuts.

  2. Dip each ball in egg and coat with bread crumbs.

Fry and serve

  1. Fry in boiling lard until golden brown, then drain.

  2. Serve piled high on a small dish, garnished with pickled chilies, mustard, and cress.

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

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

  2. Potato + mustardtop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,340 recipes

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

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

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

  4. Parmesan cheese + buttertop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,163 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

  5. Potato + milktop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together3,611 recipes

    Shared aroma: (e,z)-2,6-nonadienal (cucumber, melon).

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

What each ingredient does

Parmesan cheese
Adds savory flavor and salty depth, and helps the mixture set firm when cooled.
All-purpose flour
Cooked with butter to form a roux that thickens the base into a stiff mixture.
Butter
Adds richness and fat, and forms the roux with flour for a smooth texture.
Mashed potatoes
Adds body and moisture, helping the mixture hold its shape when shaped and fried.
Eggs
Yolks bind the mixture, and whole eggs help the bread crumbs adhere to the balls.
Cream
Adds moisture and richness, giving the filling a soft, creamy interior.

The step that matters

Let the mixture cool and harden before shaping. A warm, soft base is too loose to roll into balls and may split or collapse in the frying oil. Chilling firms the starch and fat so the croquettes keep their shape and crust evenly.

Swap the mustard

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (parmesan cheese, flour, potato, butter, cream, milk, egg):

  1. Asparagusfits better
  2. Chivefits better
  3. Spinachfits better
  4. Mustardthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against parmesan cheese, flour, potato, butter, cream, milk, 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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