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Cheese Croquettes

Cheese croquettes are fried cheese sticks made with cream cheese, flour, milk, Parmesan, eggs, and spices.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 10 ingredients
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Why it works: Cream cheese and parmesan cheese match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 311 recipes. Both carry ethyl 2-methylbutyrate, which smells fruity, apple. The science ↓

Cheese Croquettes

Ingredients

Directions

Make the cheese base

  1. Melt the butter in a saucepan.

  2. Add the flour and stir to form a smooth paste.

  3. Gradually add the milk while beating constantly.

  4. Add the grated cheese and reduce heat as it melts.

  5. Fold in the cubes of cheese and season with salt, pepper, cayenne, and onion juice.

  6. Place the mixture in a shallow pan and chill until firm.

Shape and fry

  1. Turn the mixture onto a floured board and cut into strips, 1 inch wide by 2 inches long.

  2. Dip each strip in fine cracker crumbs, then in beaten egg, and again in crumbs.

  3. Fry in hot oil until golden brown and drain on paper.

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. Cream cheese + parmesan cheesetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together311 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl 2-methylbutyrate (fruity, apple).

  2. Butter + milktop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together81,283 recipes

    Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).

  3. Butter + cream cheesetop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,747 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).

  4. Butter + parmesan cheesetop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,163 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

  5. Onion + peppertop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together68,474 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Cream cheese
Melts into the sauce and adds creaminess while cubes keep some soft pockets of cheese.
Parmesan cheese
Adds sharp, savory flavor and helps the base set firmly as it melts.
Flour
Thickens the butter and milk into a smooth paste that holds the croquettes' shape.
Egg yolks
Add richness and help bind the cheese mixture into a cohesive base.
Butter
Provides fat for the roux and adds rich flavor to the base.
Milk
Forms the liquid of the sauce, giving the base a smooth, pourable texture before chilling.

The step that matters

Chill the mixture until firm. A warm, soft base will not hold its shape when cut and coated. Chilling lets the starch and cheese set so the strips keep their form during frying.

Swap the onion

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (butter, cream cheese, flour, milk, parmesan cheese, egg, pepper):

  1. Chivefits better
  2. Asparagusfits better
  3. Potatofits better
  4. Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against butter, cream cheese, flour, milk, parmesan cheese, egg, pepper. 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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