Why it works: Butter and milk are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 81,283 recipes. Both carry (z)-4-heptenal, which smells biscuit, cream. The science ↓
Rice and Meat Croquettes
Ingredients
Directions
Make the mixture
Boil the milk in a saucepan.
Add the meat, rice, salt, and pepper to the boiling milk.
Once it boils, stir in the beaten egg and cook for 1 minute.
Shape and fry
Let the mixture cool, then shape it into croquettes.
Dip each croquette in egg and breadcrumbs.
Fry in hot oil 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.
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 + milktop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together81,283 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
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Rice + milktop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together7,374 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Rice + peppertop 12% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together8,379 recipes
Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).
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Rice + meattop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,481 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
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Rice + buttertop 16% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together9,645 recipes
Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Boiled rice
- Adds bulk and body, and its starch thickens the milk so the mixture holds together.
- Cooked meat
- Supplies the savory flavor and the main filling of the croquettes.
- Milk
- Provides moisture that the rice absorbs, softening the mixture as it cooks.
- Egg
- Binds the mixture when stirred in and coats the croquettes so breadcrumbs stick.
The step that matters
Let the mixture cool before shaping. As the mixture cools, its starch sets and the mixture firms up. If shaped while still hot, it stays soft and sticky, and the croquettes can lose their shape or split in the hot oil.
“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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