Why it works: Butter and flour are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 12% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 124,287 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓
Rice Croquettes
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Mix the cold boiled rice with the beaten egg, melted butter, and salt.
Add enough flour to make a stiff mixture.
Shape the mixture into small rolls.
Roll the rolls in fine cracker crumbs.
Fry
Fry in hot lard until golden brown, similar to frying doughnuts.
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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Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Egg + flourtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together106,462 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Rice + buttertop 16% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together9,645 recipes
Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).
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Rice + flourtop 16% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together6,611 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Egg + buttertop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together118,967 recipes
Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).
Butter and flour barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 124,287 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Cold boiled rice
- Forms the bulk of the croquette, giving body to the mixture.
- Egg
- Binds the rice together so the rolls hold their shape.
- Flour
- Stiffens the mixture so it can be shaped into rolls.
- Butter
- Adds richness and helps browning during frying.
The step that matters
Frying in hot lard. If the lard is not hot enough, the croquettes absorb excess fat and turn greasy before the outside browns. Hot fat sets the crumb coating quickly, sealing the surface and keeping the inside moist.
“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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