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Beef Croquettes

Beef croquettes are fried meatballs made from finely chopped roast beef, bread crumbs, butter, onion, and seasonings.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 10 ingredients
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Beef Croquettes

Why it works: Beef and onion are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 17,092 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓

Beef Croquettes

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the filling

  1. Chop the cold roast beef very fine.

  2. Soak the bread crumbs in stock or milk to moisten.

  3. Melt the butter in a pan, add the onion, and cook until pale yellow.

  4. Season with salt, pepper, and tomato ketchup, then stir until smooth.

  5. Add the beaten egg and mix well.

Shape and fry

  1. When cool, shape the mixture into croquettes.

  2. Dip each croquette in bread crumbs, then beaten egg, and again in bread crumbs.

  3. Fry in hot oil until golden brown.

  4. Drain on paper and serve with tomato or curry sauce.

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

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

  2. Bread + buttertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together27,232 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).

  3. Pepper + tomatotop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together17,923 recipes

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

  4. Beef + tomatotop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together5,448 recipes

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

  5. Onion + tomatotop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together20,633 recipes

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

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

What each ingredient does

Cold roast beef
Forms the main body of the croquettes and gives them their meaty flavour.
Bread crumbs
Soaked to add moisture and bind the mixture, and used again to coat for a crisp crust.
Egg
Binds the mixture together and helps the coating adhere before frying.
Butter
Adds richness and flavour when it cooks the onion.
Onion
Adds savoury aroma and flavour once softened in butter.

The step that matters

Shape the mixture only when cool. A warm mixture is soft and sticky, so croquettes can slump or split. Cooling firms the mixture so it holds its shape and the coating stays intact in the hot oil.

Swap the onion

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (beef, bread, butter, pepper, tomato, ketchup, egg):

  1. Capsicumfits better
  2. Potatofits about as well
  3. Asparagusfits about as well
  4. Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against beef, bread, butter, pepper, tomato, ketchup, 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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