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Hominy Croquettes

Hominy croquettes are fried balls made from boiled hominy, eggs, butter, sugar, and flour.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
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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 ↓

Hominy Croquettes

Ingredients

Directions

Make the mixture

  1. Rub the melted butter and sugar into the cold hominy until smooth.

  2. Beat in the eggs until well combined.

Shape and fry

  1. Form the mixture into rolls using floured hands.

  2. Roll the croquettes in flour.

  3. Fry in hot oil until golden brown.

  4. Drain on paper towels.

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

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

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

    Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).

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

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  4. Egg + buttertop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together118,967 recipes

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

  5. Butter + sugartop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked 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

Hominy
Forms the bulk of the croquette, giving it body and a soft, starchy interior.
Eggs
Bind the mixture together so the croquettes hold their shape while frying.
Butter
Adds richness and moisture, keeping the interior tender rather than dry.
Sugar
Adds a little sweetness and helps the outer surface brown during frying.

The step that matters

Fry in hot oil until golden brown. If the oil is not hot enough, the croquettes absorb excess oil and turn greasy before a crust forms. Oil that is hot enough sets the outside quickly, sealing in the moisture and keeping the centre tender.

“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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