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Veal Croquettes

Veal croquettes are small fried meatballs made with veal, ham, onion, spices, milk, eggs, and flour.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 12 ingredients
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Why it works: Parsley and pepper match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 34,122 recipes. Both carry 4'-methylacetophenone, which smells bitter almond. The science ↓

Veal Croquettes

Ingredients

Directions

Make the mixture

  1. Combine minced veal, ham, onion, mace, parsley, pepper, and salt in a chopping bowl.

  2. Heat milk or cream until boiling, then stir in cold butter and the meat mixture.

  3. Beat the eggs and mix with corn-starch or flour, then add to the mixture.

  4. Cook for about 10 minutes, stirring carefully.

  5. Remove from heat, spread on a platter, and let cool.

Shape and fry

  1. Once cooled, roll into balls and flatten each.

  2. Dip in egg and bread crumbs, then fry in hot lard until golden.

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. Parsley + peppertop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together34,122 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

  2. Milk + buttertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together81,283 recipes

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

  3. Onion + parsleytop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together25,843 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).

  4. Onion + peppertop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together68,474 recipes

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

  5. Mace + parsleytop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,268 recipes

    Shared aroma: myristicin (spice, warm).

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

What each ingredient does

Eggs
Bind the mixture so the croquettes hold their shape when cooked and fried.
Butter
Adds richness and a smoother, softer texture to the mixture.
Corn-starch or flour
Thickens the mixture so it holds together while cooking and cooling.
Milk or cream
Provides moisture and a tender, creamy base for the meat.
Veal
Forms the main body of the croquettes, giving a mild, tender meat flavor.

The step that matters

Cooking the mixture with stirring. Stirring carefully while cooking keeps the mixture from scorching or sticking, and the starch and egg need gentle heat to thicken evenly and set into a mass that can be shaped.

Swap the mace

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (veal, ham, onion, parsley, pepper, milk, butter):

  1. Thymefits better
  2. Celeryfits better
  3. Marjoramfits better
  4. Macethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against veal, ham, onion, parsley, pepper, milk, butter. 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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