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Chicken Croquettes

A fried chicken croquette made with boiled chicken, butter, flour, broth, egg yolks, and optional mushrooms or truffles.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 12 ingredients
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Why it works: Chicken and mushroom are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 4% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 4,172 recipes. Both carry 1-butyl acetate, which smells fruity, banana. The science ↓

Chicken Croquettes

Ingredients

Directions

Make the filling

  1. Boil the chicken and chop the meat finely.

  2. In a skillet, melt the butter and fry the chopped meat for a few minutes.

  3. Add the flour, stir for half a minute, then add the meat broth, salt, pepper, and nutmeg.

  4. Stir for five minutes, then remove from heat and mix in the egg yolks.

  5. Return to heat for one minute, stirring continuously.

  6. If desired, add the chopped mushrooms or truffles.

  7. Transfer the mixture to a dish and let it cool completely.

  8. Once cool, mix well to ensure even consistency.

Shape and fry

  1. Scoop tablespoon-sized portions onto a floured surface.

  2. Shape each portion as desired, then dip in beaten egg and roll in bread crumbs.

  3. Fry in hot oil until golden brown.

  4. Garnish each croquette with a sprig of parsley.

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. Chicken + mushroomtop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,172 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-butyl acetate (fruity, banana).

  2. Butter + mushroomtop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together12,525 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-decenal (waxy, orange).

  3. Pepper + nutmegtop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together13,015 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

  4. Flour + nutmegtop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together18,623 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  5. Pepper + mushroomtop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together13,580 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

Chicken
Provides the main body and savory flavor of the croquette filling.
Butter
Adds richness and carries flavor when the meat is fried at the start.
Flour
Thickens the broth into a stiff filling that holds its shape when cooled.
Egg yolks
Enrich the filling and help it set firmly when reheated.
Meat broth
Adds moisture and savory depth to the filling as it thickens.
Bread crumbs
Form a crisp, golden coating during frying.

The step that matters

Let the filling cool completely before shaping. Egg yolks and flour set as the mixture cools. A warm or loose filling will not hold its shape and may burst or spread in the hot oil.

Swap the nutmeg

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (chicken, butter, flour, meat, pepper, egg, mushroom):

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

Fit is the average pairing score against chicken, butter, flour, meat, pepper, egg, mushroom. 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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