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Fish Croquettes

A fried patty made from mashed salt fish, potatoes, butter, pepper, egg, and salt.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 5 ingredients
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Fish Croquettes

Why it works: Pepper and potato 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 ↓

Fish Croquettes

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the fish and potatoes

  1. Wash the fish, pick it into half-inch pieces, and remove any bones.

  2. Pare the potatoes and cut them into quarters.

  3. Put the potatoes and fish in a stew pan and cover with boiling water.

  4. Boil for 20 minutes or until the potatoes are soft.

  5. Drain all the water, then mash and beat the fish and potatoes until light.

  6. Add the butter and pepper.

  7. When slightly cool, add the egg and more salt if needed.

Shape and fry

  1. Shape the mixture into croquettes.

  2. Fry the croquettes in hot lard for 1 minute.

  3. Fry a few at a time to keep the lard hot.

  4. The croquettes should brown a piece of bread in 40 seconds.

  5. Drain on a piece of brown paper.

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 + potatotop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together8,305 recipes

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

  2. Fish + buttertop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,488 recipes

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

  3. Butter + potatotop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together6,456 recipes

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

  4. Fish + potatotop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together134 recipes

    Shared aroma: (e,z)-2,6-nonadienal (cucumber, melon).

  5. Butter + eggtop 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

Salt fish
Provides the main savory flavour and the bulk of the croquette filling.
Potatoes
Adds starch and softness, binding the mixture and keeping the inside tender.
Egg
Binds the mashed mixture so the croquettes hold their shape when fried.
Butter
Adds richness and moisture to the mashed mixture.

The step that matters

Keep the lard hot while frying. Frying a few at a time keeps the lard at frying temperature. If the oil cools, the croquettes absorb more fat and turn greasy instead of browning crisply.

Swap the potato

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

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

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