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Pork Croquettes

Pork croquettes are small meatballs made with pork, butter, eggs, onions, breadcrumbs, and spices, then fried.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 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 ↓

Pork Croquettes

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the mixture

  1. Combine the chopped meat and melted butter in a bowl.

  2. Add the bread crumbs, beaten eggs, salt, chopped onion, and pepper.

  3. Pour in the hot water.

  4. Mix until well combined.

  5. Transfer the mixture to a pan.

  6. Let it cool.

Shape and fry

  1. Roll the mixture into balls.

  2. Dip each ball in beaten egg.

  3. Coat each ball with cracker crumbs.

  4. Fry in hot oil until golden brown.

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. Onion + peppertop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together68,474 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  3. Egg + breadtop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together22,662 recipes

    Shared aroma: (e)-2-octenal (fatty, green).

  4. Meat + breadtop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,924 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).

  5. Butter + oniontop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together42,912 recipes

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

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

What each ingredient does

Pork (in the method)
Provides the main body and savoury flavour of the croquettes.
Eggs
Bind the mixture and help the coated balls hold their shape when fried.
Bread crumbs
Absorb moisture and help give the mixture a firm, shapeable texture.
Butter
Adds richness and fat that keeps the interior moist.

The step that matters

Fry in hot oil until golden brown. If the oil is not hot enough, the coating absorbs oil and becomes greasy, and the balls may break apart. Hot oil quickly sets the crust and browns it through the Maillard reaction.

Swap the onion

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (meat, butter, egg, bread, pepper):

  1. Capsicumfits better
  2. Asparagusfits better
  3. Potatofits better
  4. Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against meat, butter, egg, bread, pepper. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

“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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