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Potato Croquettes

A fried potato ball coated in cracker crumbs.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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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

  1. In a bowl, combine the mashed potatoes with nutmeg, Cayenne pepper, and the beaten egg, then beat the mixture with a fork until well combined.

  2. For added flavor, mix in minced parsley before rolling.

Shape and coat

  1. Roll the mixture into small balls.

  2. Dip each ball in egg, then roll in cracker crumbs.

Fry

  1. Fry the croquettes in boiling lard using a wire basket 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. Nutmeg + parsleytop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together5,062 recipes

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

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

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

  4. Nutmeg + peppertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together13,015 recipes

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

  5. Potato + nutmegtop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,052 recipes

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

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

What each ingredient does

Mashed potatoes
Form the bulk of the croquette and give a soft, tender interior.
Beaten egg
Binds the potato mixture together and helps the crumbs adhere.
Cracker crumbs
Form a crisp, browned outer crust when fried.

The step that matters

Fry in boiling lard until golden brown. The fat must be hot enough to crisp the crumb coating quickly. If it is too cool, the croquettes absorb more fat and turn greasy before the crust sets.

Swap the parsley

The recipe marks parsley as optional. How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (potato, nutmeg, pepper, egg):

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

Fit is the average pairing score against potato, nutmeg, pepper, egg. 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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