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Ham Croquettes

Ham croquettes made with mashed potatoes, ham, eggs, butter, and cayenne pepper, coated in cracker crumbs and fried in boiling lard.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 ingredients
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Ham Croquettes

Why it works: Potato and pepper are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 9% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 8,305 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓

Ham Croquettes

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the filling

  1. Mix the mashed potatoes, butter, 2 egg yolks, and cayenne until smooth.

  2. Cool the mixture.

  3. Chop the ham and mix it with the remaining egg yolk. Heat briefly on the stove, then cool.

Shape and fry

  1. Take a tablespoon of the potato mixture, make a hole, and place a teaspoon of ham inside. Shape into a ball.

  2. Dip the croquettes in egg. Roll in cracker crumbs.

  3. Fry in boiling lard for about 2 minutes until browned.

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.

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.

  1. Potato + peppertop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together8,305 recipes

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

  2. Potato + buttertop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together6,456 recipes

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

  3. Ham + buttertop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together5,475 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-decenal (waxy, orange).

  4. Ham + eggtop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,526 recipes

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

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

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

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

What each ingredient does

Mashed potatoes
Form the bulk of the croquette and give a soft, moist interior.
Eggs
Yolks bind the potato mixture, and the whole egg for dipping helps crumbs adhere.
Butter
Adds richness and moisture to the potato mixture.
Cooked ham
Provides the savory filling at the centre of each croquette.
Cracker crumbs
Form a crisp, browned outer crust during frying.

The step that matters

Frying in boiling lard. The lard must be hot enough to brown the crumb coating quickly. Frying too cool lets the croquette absorb grease and fall apart, while frying too long can overbrown the crust before the interior is heated through.

Swap the potato

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (ham, egg, butter, pepper):

  1. Capsicumfits better
  2. Asparagusfits better
  3. Mustardfits about as well
  4. Potatothe original

Fit is the average pairing score against ham, egg, butter, pepper. 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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