Why it works: Ham and bread are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,536 recipes. Both carry 2-acetyl-1-pyrroline, which smells popcorn, roasted. The science ↓
Ham Croquettes
Ingredients
Directions
In a bowl, combine the chopped ham, black pepper, and mustard.
With a little flour in your hands, form small balls from the mixture.
Dip each ball in the beaten egg, then roll in bread or cracker crumbs.
Fry the croquettes in hot lard until they are light 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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Ham + breadtop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together2,536 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-acetyl-1-pyrroline (popcorn, roasted).
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Pepper + mustardtop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together15,430 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Mustard + flourtop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together5,066 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Egg + breadtop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together22,662 recipes
Shared aroma: (e)-2-octenal (fatty, green).
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Ham + mustardtop 14% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together747 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-acetyl-1-pyrroline (popcorn, roasted).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Ham
- Provides the main meaty flavor and most of the filling.
- Egg
- Acts as a binder so the crumbs stick to the balls.
- Bread or cracker crumbs
- Forms a crisp, golden coating when fried.
- Lard
- Conducts heat for frying and browns the crumb coating.
The step that matters
Fry in hot lard until light brown. Lard must be hot enough to crisp the crumb coating quickly. If it is too cool, the croquettes soak up grease and turn heavy, while the crumbs need steady heat to brown evenly without burning.
Swap the mustard
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (ham, pepper, flour, egg, bread):
- Asparagusfits about as well
- Shallotfits about as well
- Capsicumfits about as well
- Mustardthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against ham, pepper, flour, egg, 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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