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Sweetbread Croquettes

Sweetbread croquettes are fried sweetbread pieces coated in breadcrumbs after being cooked in a thickened cream mixture.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 13 ingredients
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Sweetbread Croquettes

Why it works: Celery and parsley match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 6,810 recipes. Both carry 4'-methylacetophenone, which smells bitter almond. The science ↓

Sweetbread Croquettes

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the sweetbreads

  1. Parboil the sweetbreads.

  2. Stew the sweetbreads slowly in a little soup stock or water until done.

  3. Chop the sweetbreads finely.

Make the filling

  1. In a saucepan, combine corn starch, water, vinegar, cream, and beaten eggs over medium heat to thicken.

  2. Season the mixture with pepper, coarse sea salt, celery, nutmeg, and parsley.

  3. Stir the sweetbreads into the seasoned mixture.

  4. Boil the mixture for five minutes.

  5. Spread the mixture on a dish to cool.

  6. Once cooled, cut the mixture into pieces.

Fry and serve

  1. Roll the pieces in bread crumbs.

  2. Fry the breadcrumb-coated pieces in hot lard until golden.

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. Celery + parsleytop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together6,810 recipes

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

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

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

  3. Nutmeg + parsleytop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together5,062 recipes

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

  4. Pepper + celerytop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together16,012 recipes

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

  5. Pepper + nutmegtop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together13,015 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

Sweetbreads
Provide the main meaty filling that gives the croquettes their body and flavor.
Corn starch
Thickens the cream mixture so it sets firm enough to cool and be cut into pieces.
Cream
Adds richness and moisture, keeping the filling soft and smooth.
Beaten eggs
Help bind and set the mixture as it thickens with heat.
Bread crumbs
Form a crisp, golden coating that browns when fried.

The step that matters

Thickening and cooling the filling. The corn starch and egg mixture must thicken fully over heat, then cool and set before cutting; cutting a warm, loose mixture makes pieces that fall apart in the frying lard.

Swap the celery

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (corn, vinegar, cream, egg, pepper, nutmeg, parsley):

  1. Tarragonfits better
  2. Marjoramfits about as well
  3. Dillfits about as well
  4. Celerythe original

Fit is the average pairing score against corn, vinegar, cream, egg, pepper, nutmeg, parsley. 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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