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 ↓
Salmon Croquettes
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Boil the salmon for 20 minutes and chop it finely.
In a bowl, combine the salmon, bread crumbs, egg, melted butter, Worcestershire sauce, red pepper, salt, and soup stock.
Shape the mixture into croquettes.
Coat and fry
Dip each croquette in egg, then coat with bread crumbs.
Fry the croquettes in hot 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.
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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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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Butter + saucetop 15% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together15,338 recipes
Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
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Salmon + buttertop 16% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together4,481 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,6-nonadienal (cucumber, green).
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Salmon + eggtop 16% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together3,485 recipes
Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).
Butter and sauce barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 15,338 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
- Salmon
- Forms the main body and flavor of the croquettes.
- Bread crumbs
- Absorb moisture and give the croquettes body and a crisp outer coating.
- Egg
- Binds the mixture so the croquettes hold their shape.
- Melted butter
- Adds fat for richness and helps keep the interior moist.
The step that matters
Frying in hot lard until golden brown. If the lard is not hot enough, the croquettes absorb excess fat and turn greasy, while the coating may not set and crisp properly. Proper heat browns the crumb quickly and seals the surface.
“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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