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Macaroni Croquettes

A fried dish of macaroni mixed with cheese, spices, and a white sauce, coated in breadcrumbs.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 12 ingredients
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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 ↓

Macaroni Croquettes

Ingredients

Directions

Make the macaroni base

  1. Cook the macaroni according to the directions for Macaroni au Gratin.

  2. Drain the macaroni.

  3. Make a white sauce by combining milk, butter, and flour in a saucepan over medium heat.

  4. Sprinkle the macaroni with salt, paprika, cayenne pepper, and grated cheese.

  5. Stir the white sauce into the macaroni mixture.

  6. Chop the mixture finely in a wooden bowl.

  7. Let the mixture cool.

Shape and coat

  1. Drop rounded tablespoonfuls onto a board covered with sifted bread crumbs.

  2. Roll each portion into a cylinder shape.

  3. Dip the portion in the egg white mixed with water.

  4. Roll the portion in bread crumbs again.

  5. Repeat the previous steps until all the mixture is used.

Fry and drain

  1. Heat the fat in a frying pan.

  2. Fry the croquettes until golden brown.

  3. Drain the croquettes on soft paper.

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 + breadtop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together27,232 recipes

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

  2. Milk + buttertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together81,283 recipes

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

  3. Cheese + breadtop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,130 recipes

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

  4. Butter + cheesetop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together7,962 recipes

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

  5. Milk + cheesetop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,426 recipes

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

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

What each ingredient does

Macaroni
Forms the bulk and body of the croquettes.
Flour
Thickens the milk and butter into a white sauce that binds the mixture.
Milk
Forms the liquid base of the white sauce, adding moisture and softness.
Grated cheese
Adds savory flavor and helps the mixture bind.
Egg white
Binds the bread crumb coating so it adheres during frying.

The step that matters

Let the mixture cool before shaping. A warm, soft mixture cannot hold its cylinder shape and may split or slump. Cooling lets the starch in the white sauce set, so the portions stay firm enough to coat and fry without falling apart.

“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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