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Creole Croquettes

Cabbage leaves stuffed with seasoned beef or veal and rice, baked in tomato sauce.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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Why it works: Pepper and cabbage are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 4,081 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓

Creole Croquettes

Oven, in the book's wordsA moderate oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a moderate oven”. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Prepare the filling

  1. Remove the fat and gristle from the beef or veal and grind it twice using a meat grinder.

  2. Wash the rice thoroughly and add it to the meat along with the salt, pepper, and cayenne. Mix well.

Fill the cabbage

  1. Cut out the thick vein from the cabbage leaves and parboil them for 2 minutes.

  2. Drain the cabbage leaves and place a heaping tablespoon of the meat mixture in each leaf. Secure with a toothpick.

Bake

  1. Place the filled cabbage leaves in a baking dish, pour tomato sauce over them, cover, and bake in a 350°F (175°C) oven for 1 hour.

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. Pepper + cabbagetop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,081 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  2. Rice + tomatotop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together3,065 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).

  3. Pepper + tomatotop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together17,923 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  4. Beef + tomatotop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together5,448 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  5. Beef + peppertop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together18,971 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

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

What each ingredient does

Raw beef or veal
Forms the main body of the filling and gives it savory meaty flavor.
Uncooked rice
Absorbs juices during baking and adds bulk and a tender texture to the filling.
Cabbage leaves
Act as edible wrappers that hold the filling in shape while it cooks.
Tomato sauce
Adds moisture and acidity, keeping the filling and leaves from drying out in the oven.

The step that matters

Parboiling the cabbage leaves. Parboiling softens the leaves so they bend without tearing around the filling. Cutting out the thick vein helps them roll and stay intact during baking.

Swap the cabbage

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (beef, pepper, rice, tomato, sauce):

  1. Capsicumfits better
  2. Carrotfits better
  3. Potatofits better
  4. Cabbagethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against beef, pepper, rice, tomato, sauce. 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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