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Hominy Croquettes

Hominy croquettes are fried balls made from boiled hominy, butter, milk, sugar, salt, egg, and coated with cracker crumbs.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 10 ingredients
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Why it works: Butter and milk are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 81,283 recipes. Both carry (z)-4-heptenal, which smells biscuit, cream. The science ↓

Hominy Croquettes

Ingredients

Directions

Make the mixture

  1. Combine the cold boiled hominy and melted butter in a bowl.

  2. Gradually add the milk until a soft, light paste forms.

  3. Mix in the white sugar, salt, and beaten egg.

Shape and coat

  1. With floured hands, roll the mixture into oval balls.

  2. Dip each ball in beaten egg.

  3. Roll each ball in cracker crumbs.

Fry

  1. Fry the croquettes in hot lard 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.

  1. Butter + milktop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together81,283 recipes

    Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).

  2. Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together124,287 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  3. Milk + flourtop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together78,219 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  4. Sugar + flourtop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together92,116 recipes

    Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).

  5. Egg + flourtop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together106,462 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

Butter and flour barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 124,287 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.

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

What each ingredient does

Hominy
Forms the bulk of the croquette and gives it its body and corn flavour.
Milk
Adds moisture so the hominy forms a soft, light paste that holds its shape.
Egg
Binds the mixture and, as a dip, helps the cracker crumbs stick to the outside.
Butter
Adds richness and fat for a tender interior and flavour.
Cracker crumbs
Form a crisp, browned coating that sets during frying.

The step that matters

Frying the croquettes in hot lard until golden brown. If the lard is not hot enough, the coating absorbs fat and turns greasy and soggy before it sets. Hot fat crisps the crumb coating quickly, sealing the surface so the soft interior stays intact and the croquette browns evenly.

“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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