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Veal Croquettes

Veal croquettes are small, breadcrumb‑coated meat cakes fried or baked.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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Why it works: Marjoram and mace work together. They rank in the top 12% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 767 recipes. Both carry methyleugenol, which smells clove, spice. The science ↓

Veal Croquettes

Ingredients

Directions

The book gives no oven temperature. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.

Prepare

  1. Moisten the minced veal with cream and the beaten egg.

  2. Season with coarse sea salt, sweet marjoram, and pounded mace.

  3. Form the mixture into small cones by hand or using a glass.

  4. Coat the outside with breadcrumbs.

Cook

  1. Fry the croquettes or bake them in a 350°F (175°C) oven, basting frequently.

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. Marjoram + macetop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together767 recipes

    Shared aroma: methyleugenol (clove, spice).

  2. Veal + marjoramtop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together525 recipes

    Shared aroma: terpineol (pine, woody).

  3. Veal + macetop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together3,761 recipes

    Shared aroma: alpha-pinene (pine, turpentine).

  4. Cream + macetop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together4,009 recipes
  5. Cream + eggtop 24% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together42,166 recipes

    Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).

Cream and egg barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 42,166 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

Finely minced veal
Provides the main body and meaty texture of the croquettes.
Cream
Adds moisture and softness, keeping the mixture tender when cooked.
Beaten egg
Binds the mixture so the croquettes hold their shape.
Breadcrumbs
Form a crisp, golden coating that browns during frying or baking.

The step that matters

Forming the cones. The mixture must be shaped firmly enough to hold together; if it is too wet or loosely packed, the croquettes may break apart or crack during frying or baking.

Swap the marjoram

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (veal, cream, egg, mace):

  1. Nutmegfits better
  2. White pepperfits better
  3. Parsleyfits better
  4. Marjoramthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against veal, cream, egg, mace. 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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