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Potato Croquettes

A fried dish of mashed potato cylinders coated in breadcrumbs.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 12 ingredients
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Potato Croquettes

Why it works: Nutmeg and parsley match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 3% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 5,062 recipes. Both carry 4'-methylacetophenone, which smells bitter almond. The science ↓

Potato Croquettes

Ingredients

Directions

Make the mixture

  1. Beat the egg yolks, then add the mashed potatoes and mix in the cream, onion juice, salt, nutmeg, parsley, butter, and cayenne.

  2. Transfer the mixture to a small saucepan and stir over medium heat until it leaves the sides of the pan.

  3. Remove from heat and let cool, then form the mixture into small cylinders.

Coat and fry

  1. Beat the egg with warm water in a separate bowl.

  2. Dip each cylinder first in the egg mixture, then coat with bread crumbs.

  3. Fry the croquettes in hot oil until golden brown, ensuring the coating is secure.

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. Nutmeg + parsleytop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together5,062 recipes

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

  2. Potato + oniontop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together9,023 recipes

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

  3. Nutmeg + walnuttop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,230 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

  4. Potato + parsleytop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,855 recipes

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

  5. Parsley + walnuttop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together865 recipes

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

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

What each ingredient does

Mashed potatoes
Forms the bulk of the croquette and gives a soft, tender interior.
Egg yolks
Add richness and help bind the mixture so it holds its shape.
Cream
Adds moisture and richness, keeping the interior smooth rather than dry.
Butter
Adds fat for richness and a smoother, more tender texture.
Egg
Beaten egg forms a sticky layer that helps bread crumbs adhere to the croquettes.
Bread crumbs
Form a crisp, golden outer coating when fried.

The step that matters

Stir the mixture over heat until it leaves the sides of the pan. Cooking the potato mixture until it pulls away from the pan drives off excess moisture. A drier, firmer mixture holds its cylinder shape and is less likely to burst or fall apart when coated and fried.

Swap the onion

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (potato, cream, nutmeg, egg, parsley, butter, walnut):

  1. Chivefits better
  2. Spinachfits better
  3. Shallotfits better
  4. Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against potato, cream, nutmeg, egg, parsley, butter, walnut. 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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