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Croquettes of Macaroni

A fried ball of macaroni, cheese, and eggs coated in breadcrumbs.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 11 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 ↓

Croquettes of Macaroni

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the macaroni

  1. Wash the macaroni and place it in a saucepan with the milk. Boil slowly for 30 minutes.

  2. Drain the macaroni well and cut it into 1-inch lengths.

Make the filling

  1. Melt the butter in a saucepan, add the flour, then gradually stir in the cream. Boil for 2 minutes.

  2. Remove from heat and add the cut macaroni, pepper, salt, cayenne, and grated cheese.

  3. Stir in the yolks of the eggs and mix well. Let the mixture cool completely.

  4. Roll the mixture into small balls.

Coat and fry

  1. Beat the egg whites in a plate, roll the balls in the egg whites, then coat with bread crumbs.

  2. Heat clarified fat in a stew pan until smoking, then drop in the balls and brown for 2 minutes.

  3. Drain on a sheet of kitchen paper and serve hot.

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. Milk + buttertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together81,283 recipes

    Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).

  3. Cheese + breadtop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,130 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).

  4. Butter + creamtop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together41,516 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).

  5. Butter + cheesetop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together7,962 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).

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

What each ingredient does

Macaroni
Forms the bulk of the filling, giving the croquettes body and a chewy bite.
Milk
Cooks the macaroni until tender and forms the liquid base of the filling.
Butter
Adds richness and fat to the sauce, carrying flavour through the filling.
Flour
Thickens the cream and butter into a sauce that holds the balls together.
Cheese
Adds savoury flavour and helps the filling set firm as it cools.
Eggs
Egg yolks enrich and bind the filling; whites help the crumbs stick and form a crust.

The step that matters

Let the mixture cool completely before rolling. A warm, loose filling stays soft and sticky, so the balls can collapse or break apart in the hot fat. Cooling lets the starch-thickened sauce set so the balls hold their shape.

“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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