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Croquettes of Fish

Croquettes of Fish are fried balls of minced fish coated in breadcrumbs.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
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Why it works: Fish and bread are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 10% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,668 recipes. Both carry 2-undecenal, which smells sweet. The science ↓

Croquettes of Fish

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Remove the bones from the fish and mince it with seasoning.

  2. In a bowl, beat the egg, then mix in the flour and milk.

Shape and coat

  1. Form the fish mixture into balls, brush with the egg mixture, and coat with bread and cracker crumbs.

Fry

  1. Fry the croquettes in hot pork 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.

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. Fish + breadtop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,668 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-undecenal (sweet).

  2. Milk + breadtop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together11,466 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-undecenal (sweet).

  3. Fish + porktop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together668 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4-heptenal (creamy, biscuit).

  4. Milk + porktop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,386 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4-heptenal (creamy, biscuit).

  5. Bread + porktop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,371 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-acetyl-1-pyrroline (popcorn, roasted).

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

What each ingredient does

Egg
Binds the fish mixture and, beaten, forms a coating that helps crumbs adhere.
Flour
Thickens the egg and milk mixture so it clings to the fish.
Milk
Adds moisture to the binder, keeping the croquettes tender.
Bread crumbs
Form a crisp outer crust that browns during frying.
Cracker crumbs
Add an extra crisp, browned outer layer when fried.

The step that matters

Frying in hot pork fat. If the fat is not hot enough, the crumb coating absorbs oil and becomes greasy, and the interior may not set before the outside over-browns. Hot fat seals the crust quickly so the croquettes turn golden and stay firm.

“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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