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 ↓
Fish Croquettes
Ingredients
Directions
Make the paste
Remove skin and bones from the cold boiled fish and chop it into small dice.
In a saucepan, melt the butter and flour over medium heat until bubbling.
Stir in 2 cups of boiling water.
Season with salt, pepper, and nutmeg.
Add the fish to the sauce and stir over heat until it thickens.
Pour onto an oiled dish, about 1.5 inches thick, and let cool to stiffen.
Shape and coat
Dust a clean surface with bread crumbs.
Beat the egg with 1 tablespoon of cold water.
Cut the croquette paste into strips, each 1.25 inches wide and 2 inches long.
Wet your hands with cold water and shape the strips into small rolls.
Roll them in the bread crumbs and pat into shape.
Quickly dip each croquette into the beaten egg, then roll again in the crumbs and place on a clean dish.
Fry and serve
Fry the croquettes in hot lard until golden brown.
Drain on brown paper and serve hot.
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.
Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it
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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Butter + breadtop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together27,232 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).
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Pepper + nutmegtop 7% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together13,015 recipes
Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
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Flour + nutmegtop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together18,623 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Fish + breadtop 10% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,668 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-undecenal (sweet).
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Fish + buttertop 12% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together4,488 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Flour
- Combines with butter to form a roux that thickens the sauce binding the fish.
- Butter
- Enriches the roux with fat and flavour, helping the paste stay tender.
- Egg
- Coats the shaped croquettes so the bread crumbs adhere and form a crisp shell.
- Bread crumbs
- Form a crisp, golden outer crust when the croquettes are fried.
- Lard
- Conducts heat for frying, browning the outside while keeping the inside moist.
The step that matters
Let the paste cool to stiffen before shaping. A warm, soft paste is too loose to cut and roll cleanly and can fall apart. Cooling lets the starch-thickened sauce set so the croquettes hold their shape through breading and frying.
Swap the nutmeg
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (fish, butter, egg, bread, flour, pepper):
- Parsleyfits about as well
- Capersfits about as well
- Nutmegthe original
- Tarragonfits less well
Fit is the average pairing score against fish, butter, egg, bread, flour, 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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