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Potato Croquettes

A fried potato patty coated in breadcrumbs.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
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Potato Croquettes

Why it works: Pepper and parsley match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 34,122 recipes. Both carry 4'-methylacetophenone, which smells bitter almond. The science ↓

Potato Croquettes

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the filling

  1. Peel, boil, and mash the potatoes.

  2. Add the butter, milk, salt, pepper, and parsley; mix well and let cool slightly.

Shape and coat

  1. Shape the mixture into croquettes.

  2. Roll each croquette in breadcrumbs, then dip in egg whites, and coat again with breadcrumbs.

Fry

  1. Fry in hot oil until golden brown.

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. Pepper + parsleytop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together34,122 recipes

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

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

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

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

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

  4. Potato + peppertop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together8,305 recipes

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

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

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

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

What each ingredient does

Potatoes
Provide the starchy base that binds and gives the croquettes their soft interior.
Egg whites
Act as a binder that helps the breadcrumb coating stick and set during frying.
Butter
Adds fat and richness, softening the mashed potato texture.
Milk
Adds moisture that keeps the mashed potato smooth and easy to shape.
Breadcrumbs
Form a crisp, golden outer crust when fried.

The step that matters

Let the mixture cool slightly before shaping. A mixture that is still very hot is soft and sticky, so the croquettes can lose their shape or split. Cooling firms the starches so they hold together when shaped and coated.

Swap the parsley

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (potato, egg, butter, milk, pepper):

  1. Parsleythe original
  2. Nutmegfits about as well
  3. Dillfits less well
  4. Cinnamonfits less well

Fit is the average pairing score against potato, egg, butter, milk, 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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