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Bean Croquettes

Bean croquettes are fried balls made from baked beans, egg, bread crumbs, ketchup, and cayenne pepper.

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

Why it works: Beans and tomato match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,713 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓

Bean Croquettes

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the mixture

  1. Pass the baked beans through a colander.

  2. In a bowl, combine the beans, beaten egg, bread crumbs, tomato ketchup, and a dash of cayenne pepper.

  3. Shape the mixture into small croquettes.

Coat and fry

  1. Roll each croquette in bread crumbs, then in beaten egg, and again in bread crumbs.

  2. Fry in hot deep fat until golden brown.

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. Beans + tomatotop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together2,713 recipes

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

  2. Tomato + peppertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together17,923 recipes

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

  3. Bread + tomatotop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,013 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

  4. Beans + peppertop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,733 recipes

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

  5. Egg + breadtop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together22,662 recipes

    Shared aroma: (e)-2-octenal (fatty, green).

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

What each ingredient does

Baked beans
Form the main body of the croquettes, giving bulk and a soft interior.
Egg
Binds the mixture so the croquettes hold their shape, and helps the coating stick.
Bread crumbs
Absorb moisture and firm up the mixture, then form a crisp, browned outer coating.
Tomato ketchup
Adds moisture, sweetness and acidity, and helps with browning on the surface.

The step that matters

Coating and frying. Each croquette needs an even crumb-egg-crumb coating so it holds together in the oil. Hot fat seals the outside quickly, so the interior stays soft and the coating browns without absorbing excess oil.

“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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