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Beef Croquettes

Beef croquettes are small patties of minced beef mixed with mashed potatoes, gravy, catsup, spices, and egg, coated in breadcrumbs and fried.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 9 ingredients
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Beef Croquettes

Why it works: Pepper and marjoram match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 3% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,609 recipes. Both carry estragole, which smells anise, licorice. The science ↓

Beef Croquettes

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the mixture

  1. Mash the hot potatoes until very smooth, or ensure cold potatoes are free from lumps.

  2. Mix in the minced beef, gravy, catsup, pepper, salt, marjoram, and beaten egg.

Shape and fry

  1. Form the mixture into desired shapes and roll them in fine breadcrumbs.

  2. Fry the croquettes quickly in hot oil until light brown.

  3. Drain on soft paper until free from fat and 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.

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 + marjoramtop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together2,609 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

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

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

  3. Potato + marjoramtop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together135 recipes

    Shared aroma: alpha-pinene (pine, turpentine).

  4. Beef + oniontop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together17,092 recipes

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

  5. Beef + potatotop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,052 recipes

    Shared aroma: sotolon (curry, maple).

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

What each ingredient does

Minced beef
Provides the main body and savory flavor of the croquettes.
Mashed potato
Binds the mixture and adds moisture and softness inside the croquette.
Beaten egg
Helps bind the mixture together so the croquettes hold their shape.
Gravy
Adds moisture and savory flavor to the meat and potato mixture.
Fine breadcrumbs
Form a crisp, golden-brown coating during frying.

The step that matters

Fry the croquettes quickly in hot oil. Hot oil browns the breadcrumb coating quickly and crisps it before the interior overheats or the coating absorbs excess oil. Frying slowly leads to greasy, soggy croquettes.

Swap the marjoram

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (beef, potato, onion, pepper, egg):

  1. Garlicfits better
  2. Parsleyfits better
  3. Thymefits about as well
  4. Marjoramthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against beef, potato, onion, 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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