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Meat Croquettes

Meat croquettes are fried balls of chopped roast beef mixed with bread crumbs, milk, and seasonings, coated in egg and cracker crumbs.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 10 ingredients
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Meat Croquettes

Why it works: Pepper and parsley match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 34,122 recipes. Both carry 4'-methylacetophenone, which smells bitter almond. The science ↓

Meat Croquettes

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. In a bowl, combine chopped beef, pepper, salt, bread crumbs, and milk.

  2. Flour your hands and shape the mixture into balls.

Coat and fry

  1. Dip each ball into the beaten egg, then roll in cracker crumbs.

  2. Fry in butter until golden brown.

Serve

  1. Garnish with parsley before serving.

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. Pepper + parsleytop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together34,122 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

  2. Bread + buttertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together27,232 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).

  3. Milk + buttertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together81,283 recipes

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

  4. Beef + peppertop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together18,971 recipes

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

  5. Bread + milktop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together11,466 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-undecenal (sweet).

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

What each ingredient does

Roast beef
Provides the main filling and meaty flavor of the croquettes.
Bread crumbs
Absorb moisture and help bind the meat mixture so it holds its shape.
Milk
Adds moisture so the filling stays soft rather than dry.
Egg
Binds the coating so the cracker crumbs adhere during frying.
Cracker crumbs
Form a crisp outer crust that browns when fried.

The step that matters

Shaping and coating the balls. The mixture must be firm enough to hold its shape. Flouring the hands keeps it from sticking, and an even egg and crumb coat helps the crust brown evenly and seal the filling during frying.

Swap the parsley

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (beef, pepper, bread, milk, flour, egg, butter):

  1. Nutmegfits about as well
  2. Parsleythe original
  3. Cinnamonfits about as well
  4. Marjoramfits less well

Fit is the average pairing score against beef, pepper, bread, milk, flour, egg, butter. 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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