Name: Meat Croquettes
Ingredients: any kind of fresh, cold meat; salt; pepper; batter (for griddle cakes); butter (for greasing the griddle)

Why it works: Meat and butter are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 16% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 7,594 recipes. Both carry guaiacol, which smells smoky, sweet. The science ↓

Meat Croquettes

Ingredients

Directions

Cut the fresh, cold meat into small pieces and season with salt and pepper.
Prepare a batter similar to that used for griddle cakes.
Heat a griddle and grease it with butter to prevent sticking.
Place a spoonful of batter on the griddle, followed by a spoonful of the chopped meat, and top with another spoonful of batter.
Cook until browned on one side, then flip and brown the other side.
Serve hot.

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.

Meat + buttertop 16% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together7,594 recipes

Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).
Meat + peppertop 19% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together8,777 recipes

Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
Pepper + buttertop 21% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together85,593 recipes

Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).