Why it works: Butter and bread are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 27,232 recipes. Both carry delta-decalactone, which smells sweet, creamy. The science ↓
Potato Croquettes
Ingredients
Directions
Make the potato mixture
Mash the potatoes and beat them until light.
Mix in the butter, eggs, and enough milk to moisten the potatoes.
Season with coarse sea salt and black pepper.
Shape and coat
Dust a board with flour and shape the potato mixture into oblong forms.
Roll each croquette in flour, then dip in beaten egg, and coat with bread crumbs.
Fry
Fry in lard until golden brown.
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.
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Butter + breadtop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together27,232 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).
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Butter + milktop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together81,283 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
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Potato + peppertop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together8,305 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Potato + milktop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together3,611 recipes
Shared aroma: (e,z)-2,6-nonadienal (cucumber, melon).
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Milk + breadtop 11% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together11,466 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-undecenal (sweet).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Potatoes
- Form the soft, starchy body of the croquettes.
- Butter
- Adds richness and fat for a tender, flavourful interior.
- Eggs
- Bind the mixture and help the coating set during frying.
- Milk
- Moistens the mashed potatoes so they shape smoothly.
- Bread crumbs
- Form a crisp, golden outer crust when fried.
The step that matters
Fry in lard until golden brown. Frying at the right heat browns the crumb coating quickly, so the outside crisps before the potato interior overheats or the coating absorbs excess oil and turns greasy.
Swap the potato
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (butter, egg, milk, pepper, flour, bread):
- Capsicumfits about as well
- Asparagusfits about as well
- Potatothe original
- Leekfits about as well
Fit is the average pairing score against butter, egg, milk, pepper, flour, bread. 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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