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Potato Croquettes

Small fried balls of mashed potatoes coated in flour or crumbs.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 ingredients
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Potato Croquettes

Why it works: Potato and pepper are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 9% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 8,305 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓

Potato Croquettes

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Season the cold mashed potatoes with salt and pepper.

  2. Add the butter and beat in the egg whites until well combined.

  3. Form the mixture into small balls.

Coat and fry

  1. Dip each ball into the beaten egg yolks.

  2. Roll the balls in flour or cracker crumbs.

  3. Fry in hot butter or lard 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. Potato + peppertop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together8,305 recipes

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

  2. Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together124,287 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  3. Potato + buttertop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together6,456 recipes

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

  4. Potato + flourtop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together5,355 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  5. Egg + flourtop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together106,462 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

Butter and flour barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 124,287 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

Cold mashed potatoes
Form the bulk of the croquette and give it a soft, tender interior.
Egg whites
Beaten into the potatoes to bind the mixture and help the balls hold their shape.
Egg yolks
Form a coating that helps the crumbs or flour stick and promotes even browning.
Flour or cracker crumbs
Form a dry outer crust that crisps and browns when fried.
Butter
Adds richness and flavor to the potato mixture and to the frying fat.

The step that matters

Fry in hot butter or lard until golden brown. Fat that is not hot enough lets the coating soak up oil and turn greasy before it crisps. Hot fat sets the crumb crust quickly, so the interior heats through while the outside browns.

Swap the potato

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

  1. Chivefits better
  2. Shallotfits better
  3. Asparagusfits better
  4. Potatothe original

Fit is the average pairing score against pepper, butter, egg, flour. 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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