Why it works: Parsley and nutmeg match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 3% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 5,062 recipes. Both carry 4'-methylacetophenone, which smells bitter almond. The science ↓
Meat Croquettes
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the filling
Chop the cooked meat and mix with ham, seasoning, and white sauce in a stewpan.
For fowl, use 2 ounces of ham for every ½ pound of meat.
Stew for a few minutes, then stir in the yolks of 3 eggs and let it sit until the eggs are set.
Spread the mixture evenly on a large dish and let it cool completely.
Shape and fry
Divide into equal portions and shape into balls or desired shapes using fine bread crumbs.
Coat each piece with egg and cover thickly with more bread crumbs.
Fry in boiling lard until golden brown, then drain.
Serve
Serve on a napkin garnished with parsley.
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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Parsley + nutmegtop 3% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together5,062 recipes
Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
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Ham + breadtop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together2,536 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-acetyl-1-pyrroline (popcorn, roasted).
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Bread + mushroomtop 10% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together2,536 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Parsley + mushroomtop 11% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together6,132 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
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Meat + hamtop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,095 recipes
Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-one (mushroom, metallic).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Cooked meat
- Forms the bulk of the croquette and gives it its main flavour.
- Egg yolks
- Set when heated, binding the filling so it holds its shape.
- White sauce
- Adds moisture and creaminess, keeping the filling soft enough to shape.
- Ham
- Adds salty, savoury flavour to the filling.
- Fine bread crumbs
- Form a crisp, golden outer crust when fried.
The step that matters
Let the filling cool completely before shaping. A warm, soft filling is too loose to hold its shape and can split or leak during coating and frying. Chilling firms the starch and egg so the portions stay intact in the hot lard.
Swap the parsley
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (meat, ham, sauce, egg, bread, mushroom, nutmeg):
- Capersfits about as well
- Thymefits about as well
- Marjoramfits about as well
- Parsleythe original
Fit is the average pairing score against meat, ham, sauce, egg, bread, mushroom, nutmeg. 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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