Name: Cheese Croquettes
Ingredients: 1 pound cheese, grated; 2 tablespoons flour; 1 tablespoon butter; milk, enough to make a thick paste; eggs, for coating; bread crumbs, for coating; oil, for frying

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 ↓

Cheese Croquettes

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

In a bowl, combine grated cheese with flour, butter, and enough milk to form a thick paste.
Shape the mixture into croquettes.

Coat and fry

Coat each croquette in beaten eggs, then roll in bread crumbs.
Fry the croquettes immediately in deep oil until golden brown.

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.

Butter + breadtop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together27,232 recipes

Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).
Butter + milktop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together81,283 recipes

Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
Cheese + breadtop 7% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together2,130 recipes

Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).
Cheese + buttertop 8% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together7,962 recipes

Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
Cheese + milktop 10% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together4,426 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

Cheese: Provides the main flavor and melts to bind the croquettes with richness.
Flour: Thickens the cheese mixture so it holds its shape when shaped and fried.
Eggs: Bind the bread crumb coating so it adheres to the croquettes during frying.
Bread crumbs: Form a crisp, golden outer crust when fried.

The step that matters

Fry the croquettes immediately. Frying right after coating keeps the crumb coating from becoming soggy and loose, so the crust stays crisp and the filling stays sealed inside.

“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.

Brown Bread461 recipes

Macaroni and Cheese102 recipes

White Bread80 recipes

Bread Omelette60 recipes

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Cheese Croquettes