Why it works: Meat and chicken are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 13% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,449 recipes. Both carry 1-octen-3-one, which smells mushroom, metallic. The science ↓
Chicken Croquettes
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the filling
Reduce the veloute or sauce tournee in a saucepan.
Mix the reduced sauce with the egg yolks and minced chicken until well combined.
Form the mixture into balls about the size of a walnut.
Coat and fry
Roll the balls in breadcrumbs to coat.
Shape the coated balls into an elongated form.
Dip the coated balls in the beaten egg.
Roll the balls in breadcrumbs again.
Fry the croquettes in hot oil until they are light 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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Meat + chickentop 13% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together2,449 recipes
Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-one (mushroom, metallic).
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Sauce + meattop 22% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together2,167 recipes
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Egg + meattop 22% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together6,432 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
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Sauce + chickentop 23% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together4,513 recipes
Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
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Egg + chickentop 30% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together8,991 recipes
Shared aroma: (e,e)-2,4-decadienal (fatty, deep fried).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Veloute or sauce tournee
- Reduced to a thick base that binds the filling and keeps it moist.
- Egg yolks
- Add richness and help bind the filling so it holds together when shaped.
- White meat of 1 chicken
- Provides the main filling, giving savory flavor and a tender, soft texture.
- Breadcrumbs
- Form a crisp, golden browned crust when fried in oil.
- Egg
- Beaten egg acts as glue so the breadcrumbs stick to the shaped croquettes.
The step that matters
Reducing the veloute before mixing. If the sauce is too thin, the filling stays wet and loose, so the croquettes may split or fall apart when fried. Reducing it until thick gives a firm mixture that holds its shape.
“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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