Why it works: Butter and bread 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 ↓
Potato Croquettes
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the potatoes
Pare the potatoes.
Boil the potatoes until tender.
Mash the potatoes.
Shape the croquettes
Add butter, hot cream or milk, beaten egg whites, salt, and pepper, then mix well.
When cool enough to handle, shape the mixture into croquettes.
Coat and fry
Roll each croquette in egg.
Roll each croquette in bread crumbs.
Fry in hot lard 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.
Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it
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 + breadtop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together27,232 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).
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Butter + creamtop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together41,516 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
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Potato + peppertop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together8,305 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Potato + buttertop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together6,456 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
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Egg + breadtop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together22,662 recipes
Shared aroma: (e)-2-octenal (fatty, green).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Potatoes
- Form the bulk of the croquettes and, once mashed, give a soft, cohesive base.
- Butter
- Adds fat and richness, softening the mash and carrying flavour.
- Hot cream or milk
- Adds moisture so the mashed potato becomes smooth and easy to shape.
- Egg whites
- Bind the mixture so the croquettes hold their shape when fried.
- Bread crumbs
- Form a crisp, golden outer crust during frying.
The step that matters
Shape the mixture only when cool enough to handle. Warm mash is soft and sticky, so it tears and slumps when shaped. Cooling firms the starch and lets the egg whites set somewhat, so the croquettes keep their form in the hot fat.
Swap the potato
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (butter, cream, egg, pepper, bread):
- Asparagusfits about as well
- Capsicumfits about as well
- Spinachfits about as well
- Potatothe original
Fit is the average pairing score against butter, cream, egg, pepper, bread. 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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