Why it works: Ham and bread are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,536 recipes. Both carry 2-acetyl-1-pyrroline, which smells popcorn, roasted. The science ↓
Croquettes
Ingredients
Directions
Make the mixture
Boil the bones to make a sauce, reducing it until only enough to moisten the mince remains.
Mix the minced cold fowl, ham, and mushrooms with the sauce.
Allow the mixture to cool until it becomes a hard jelly.
Shape and coat
Form the mixture into shapes, dip in beaten egg, and roll in bread crumbs.
If using, wrap each croquette in a thin slice of fat bacon or calf's udder before egging and breading.
Fry
Fry the croquettes in hot oil until crisp and golden.
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.
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Ham + breadtop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together2,536 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-acetyl-1-pyrroline (popcorn, roasted).
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Mushroom + breadtop 10% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together2,536 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Egg + breadtop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together22,662 recipes
Shared aroma: (e)-2-octenal (fatty, green).
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Ham + mushroomtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,486 recipes
Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-ol (mushroom, earthy).
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Ham + eggtop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together4,526 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Cold fowl
- Provides the main body and meaty texture of the croquette.
- Bones from the fowl
- Make the reduced sauce that moistens the mince and binds it together.
- Eggs
- Beaten egg coating helps the bread crumbs adhere and brown when fried.
- Bread crumbs
- Form a crisp, golden outer crust when fried in hot oil.
- Lean ham
- Adds savoury flavour and a firmer texture to the mince.
The step that matters
Cooling the mixture until it sets. The mixture must cool fully until it becomes a firm jelly; gelatin from the reduced bone sauce sets as it chills, so the croquettes hold their shape when breaded and fried.
“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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