Why it works: Bread and butter 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 ↓
Chicken Croquettes
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Mix the ground chicken, cracker or bread crumbs, melted butter, and beaten eggs in a bowl, then season the mixture with salt and pepper to taste.
Form the mixture into cakes.
Fry
Fry the cakes in boiling lard until golden brown.
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.
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Bread + buttertop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together27,232 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).
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Bread + eggtop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together22,662 recipes
Shared aroma: (e)-2-octenal (fatty, green).
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Chicken + breadtop 14% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together2,258 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl caproate (fruity).
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Chicken + buttertop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together13,902 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-furfurylthiol (coffee, roasted).
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Bread + peppertop 16% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together20,964 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Ground chicken
- Provides the main protein that gives the croquettes their body and bite.
- Cracker or bread crumbs
- Absorb moisture and bind the chicken so the cakes hold their shape.
- Eggs
- Bind the mixture together and help set it as the cakes cook.
- Melted butter
- Adds fat for richer flavor and a more tender texture inside the cakes.
The step that matters
Frying the cakes in boiling lard. The fat must be hot enough to brown the outside quickly. If it is too cool, the cakes absorb grease, turn soggy, and may not cook through before the surface darkens.
“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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