Why it works: Butter and flour are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 12% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 124,287 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓
Rice Croquettes
Ingredients
Directions
Make the mixture
Cream the melted butter and sugar together in a bowl.
Add the rice and salt.
Stir in the beaten eggs to form a smooth paste.
Shape and fry
Shape the mixture into oval balls or rolls with well-floured hands.
Roll the croquettes in flour.
Fry a few at a time in hot sweet lard until golden brown.
Drain the croquettes well.
Serve hot.
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.
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Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
-
Sugar + flourtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together92,116 recipes
Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).
-
Egg + flourtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together106,462 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
-
Butter + eggtop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together118,967 recipes
Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).
-
Butter + sugartop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together98,233 recipes
Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
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
- Eggs
- Bind the mixture into a smooth paste that holds its shape.
- Butter
- Adds richness and a tender texture to the mixture.
- Sugar
- Adds sweetness and helps the croquettes brown when fried.
- Flour
- Forms a dry coating that helps the croquettes brown and keeps the surface crisp.
The step that matters
Fry a few at a time in hot sweet lard until golden brown. Frying in small batches keeps the lard hot, so the outside browns and crisps quickly instead of soaking up grease and turning soggy.
“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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