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Mutton Croquettes

A fried dish of minced mutton mixed with breadcrumbs, eggs, salt, and pepper.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
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Why it works: Mutton and pepper are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 16% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 5,442 recipes. Both carry trans-2-nonenal, which smells cardboard, fatty. The science ↓

Mutton Croquettes

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the filling

  1. Cook the mutton until tender, then chop finely.

  2. Mix the chopped mutton with breadcrumbs, beaten eggs, salt, and pepper.

Form and fry

  1. Form the mixture into small croquettes.

  2. Fry the croquettes in butter until golden brown.

Serve

  1. Serve hot.

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. Mutton + peppertop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together5,442 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).

  2. Mutton + buttertop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together3,781 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).

  3. Egg + buttertop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together118,967 recipes

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

  4. Pepper + buttertop 21% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together85,593 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).

  5. Mutton + eggtop 26% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,648 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

Mutton
Provides the main meaty filling that gives the croquettes their flavour and bulk.
Breadcrumbs
Absorb moisture and give the mixture body so it holds its shape when formed.
Eggs
Bind the mixture together so the croquettes hold their shape while cooking.
Butter
Conducts heat for frying and encourages browning and a rich flavour on the outside.

The step that matters

Fry the croquettes in butter until golden brown. Frying over steady heat browns the outside and sets the binder, while a hot pan that is too fierce can scorch the butter and leave the centre cold.

“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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