Name: Chicken Croquettes
Ingredients: 4½ pounds boiled chicken, finely chopped; ½ cup fine bread crumbs; 1 egg, beaten; gravy or drawn butter, as needed; pepper, to taste; salt, to taste; chopped parsley, to taste; 2 hard boiled egg yolks, finely rubbed; flour, for coating; dripping or a mixture of half lard and half butter, for frying

Why it works: Pepper and parsley match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 34,122 recipes. Both carry 4'-methylacetophenone, which smells bitter almond. The science ↓

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.

Pepper + parsleytop 2% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together34,122 recipes

Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
Bread + buttertop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together27,232 recipes

Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).
Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together124,287 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Parsley + flourtop 12% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together16,675 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Bread + eggtop 13% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together22,662 recipes

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

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

Boiled chicken: Forms the bulk of the croquettes and provides their savory, meaty flavor and texture.
Bread crumbs: Absorb moisture and help bind the chicken into a mixture that holds its shape.
Egg: Binds the mixture together and helps it set when heated.
Gravy or drawn butter: Moistens the chicken so the mixture stays tender rather than dry.
Hard boiled egg yolks: Add richness and a smooth, fine texture to the paste.
Flour: Forms a dry coating that helps the outside brown and crisp when fried.

The step that matters

Fry a few at a time. Crowding the pan drops the oil temperature, so the croquettes soak up fat and lose their shape. Frying in small batches in hot fat keeps the coating crisp and holds the form.

Swap the parsley

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

Parsleythe original
Nutmegfits about as well
Capersfits less well
Tarragonfits less well

Fit is the average pairing score against chicken, bread, egg, butter, pepper, flour. 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.

Chicken Croquettes