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Chicken Croquettes

A fried chicken mixture formed into small balls, coated in breadcrumbs.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 12 ingredients
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Why it works: Chicken and mushroom are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 4% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 4,172 recipes. Both carry 1-butyl acetate, which smells fruity, banana. The science ↓

Chicken Croquettes

Ingredients

Directions

Make the chicken filling

  1. In a skillet, melt the butter and fry the chopped chicken for a few minutes.

  2. Add the flour and stir for 30 seconds, then add the meat broth, salt, pepper, and nutmeg.

  3. Stir for 5 minutes, then remove from heat and mix in the egg yolks.

  4. Return to heat for 1 minute, stirring continuously.

  5. If desired, add the chopped mushrooms or truffles.

  6. Transfer the mixture to a dish and let it cool completely.

  7. Once cool, mix well to ensure even consistency.

Shape and fry

  1. Scoop tablespoon-sized portions onto a floured surface.

  2. Dip each portion in beaten egg, then roll in bread crumbs.

  3. Fry in hot oil until golden brown and garnish with parsley.

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. Chicken + mushroomtop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,172 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-butyl acetate (fruity, banana).

  2. Butter + mushroomtop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together12,525 recipes

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

  3. Pepper + nutmegtop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together13,015 recipes

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

  4. Flour + nutmegtop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together18,623 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  5. Pepper + mushroomtop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together13,580 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

Chicken
Forms the bulk of the filling and gives the croquettes their meaty body.
Butter
Adds richness and fat to the filling, carrying flavour and softening its texture.
Flour
Thickens the broth into a binding paste that holds the filling together.
Egg yolks
Enrich and bind the filling, helping it set firm when heated and cooled.
Meat broth
Supplies moisture and savoury flavour to the filling.
Bread crumbs
Form a crisp, golden coating that browns when fried in hot oil.

The step that matters

Cool the filling completely before shaping. A warm, loose filling will not hold its shape and can split or slump in the hot oil. Cooling lets the starch-thickened mixture firm up so the portions keep their form and fry evenly.

Swap the nutmeg

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (chicken, butter, flour, meat, pepper, egg, mushroom):

  1. Thymefits better
  2. Parsleyfits about as well
  3. Garlicfits about as well
  4. Nutmegthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against chicken, butter, flour, meat, pepper, egg, mushroom. 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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