Why it works: Bread and butter are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 27,232 recipes. Both carry delta-decalactone, which smells sweet, creamy. The science ↓
Chicken Croquettes
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the mixture
Mix the chopped chicken and oysters in a bowl.
Add the bread crumbs, butter, beaten eggs, salt, and pepper. Mix well.
Shape and fry
Form the mixture into rolls.
Fry the rolls in deep fat until golden brown.
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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Bread + buttertop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together27,232 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).
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Oyster + buttertop 12% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together8,184 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,6-nonadienal (cucumber, green).
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Oyster + breadtop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together2,545 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Bread + eggtop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together22,662 recipes
Shared aroma: (e)-2-octenal (fatty, green).
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Oyster + eggtop 14% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together4,103 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Eggs
- Bind the mixture together so the rolls hold their shape when fried.
- Bread crumbs
- Absorb moisture and add body, giving the rolls a firm, soft interior.
- Butter
- Adds richness and moisture to the filling.
- Oysters
- Add a briny, savory flavor and moisture to the filling.
The step that matters
Shaping the rolls. The mixture must be firm enough to hold its shape. Beaten eggs and bread crumbs bind the filling, and if it is too wet it can fall apart in the hot fat. Chilling the shaped rolls briefly before frying helps them keep their form.
“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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