Why it works: Egg and bread are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 13% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 22,662 recipes. Both carry (e)-2-octenal, which smells fatty, green. The science ↓
Veal Croquettes
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
In a bowl, combine chopped veal, coarse sea salt, thick sauce, and beaten egg, and mix until well combined.
Form the mixture into small patties.
Coat each patty with dry bread or rolled crumbs.
Fry and serve
Fry in hot oil until golden brown.
Serve warm.
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.
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Egg + breadtop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together22,662 recipes
Shared aroma: (e)-2-octenal (fatty, green).
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Veal + breadtop 17% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together3,056 recipes
Shared aroma: cis-3-hexenol (green, grassy).
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Sauce + breadtop 22% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together4,934 recipes
Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
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Veal + saucetop 27% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together2,072 recipes
Shared aroma: decanoic acid (soapy, waxy).
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Veal + eggtop 28% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together6,845 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Chopped cooked veal
- Provides the main body and filling of the croquettes.
- Thick sauce
- Binds the meat so the patties hold their shape.
- Beaten egg
- Helps bind the mixture and set it during cooking.
- Dry bread or rolled crumbs
- Forms a crisp outer coating that browns in the hot oil.
The step that matters
Frying in hot oil until golden brown. The oil must be hot enough to brown the crumb coating quickly; if it is too cool, the croquettes absorb oil and turn greasy before the crust forms.
“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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