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Fish Croquettes

A fried patty of shredded fish, potatoes, and herbs coated in breadcrumbs.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 10 ingredients
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Fish Croquettes

Why it works: Potato and onion are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 3% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 9,023 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓

Fish Croquettes

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Soak the salt fish in cold water while shredding it.

  2. Boil the potatoes until soft but not watery, then drain and beat until light.

Shape and coat

  1. Mix in the shredded fish, parsley, onion, and beaten egg diluted with milk or water.

  2. Shape the mixture into balls.

  3. Roll the balls in bread crumbs.

  4. Dip the balls in egg.

  5. Coat the balls again with breadcrumbs.

Fry and drain

  1. Heat oil in a frying pan.

  2. Fry the croquettes until golden brown.

  3. Drain the croquettes on paper towels.

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.

  1. Potato + oniontop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together9,023 recipes

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

  2. Potato + parsleytop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,855 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

  3. Parsley + oniontop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together25,843 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).

  4. Potato + milktop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together3,611 recipes

    Shared aroma: (e,z)-2,6-nonadienal (cucumber, melon).

  5. Fish + breadtop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,668 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

Cooked fish
Provides the main body and flavor of the croquettes.
Potatoes
Bind the mixture and give a soft, light interior when beaten.
Egg
Binds the mixture and forms a coating that helps crumbs stick.
Bread crumbs
Form a crisp, golden outer crust when fried.

The step that matters

Beat the potatoes until light, without making them watery. Potatoes that are overcooked or left wet release extra water and turn the mixture loose and sticky, so the balls may fall apart in the oil. Draining well and beating them light keeps the mix firm enough to shape.

Swap the onion

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (fish, potato, parsley, egg, milk, bread):

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

Fit is the average pairing score against fish, potato, parsley, egg, milk, 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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