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Sweet Potato Croquettes

A fried croquette made from mashed sweet potatoes, egg yolks, and breadcrumbs.

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

Why it works: Egg and bread are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 13% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 22,662 recipes. Both carry (e)-2-octenal, which smells fatty, green. The science ↓

Sweet Potato Croquettes

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Mash and sift the cold boiled potatoes.

  2. In a bowl, combine the potatoes, beaten egg yolks, salt, and enough cream to make a soft mixture.

  3. Form the mixture into croquettes.

Coat and fry

  1. Roll each croquette in bread crumbs, then dip in beaten eggs, and coat again with bread crumbs.

  2. Fry the croquettes in deep 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. Egg + breadtop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together22,662 recipes

    Shared aroma: (e)-2-octenal (fatty, green).

  2. Potato + breadtop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together434 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-acetyl-1-pyrroline (popcorn, roasted).

  3. Potato + creamtop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together2,481 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-one (mushroom, metallic).

  4. Egg + creamtop 24% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together42,166 recipes

    Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).

  5. Cream + breadtop 24% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together5,789 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).

Egg and cream barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 42,166 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.

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

What each ingredient does

Potatoes
Provide the bulk and starch that hold the croquette's soft, moist interior together.
Egg yolks
Add richness and help bind the mixture so it holds its shape.
Cream
Adds moisture so the mixture becomes soft and easy to shape.
Bread crumbs
Form a crisp, golden browned crust when fried.
Eggs
Act as a binder that helps the bread crumb coating adhere.

The step that matters

Frying in deep hot oil. If the oil is not hot enough, the coating absorbs oil and turns greasy before it browns, and the croquette can fall apart. Deep, hot oil sets the crust quickly and gives an evenly golden exterior.

Swap the potato

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (egg, cream, bread):

  1. Asparagusfits better
  2. Leekfits better
  3. Spinachfits better
  4. Potatothe original

Fit is the average pairing score against egg, cream, 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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