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Chicken or Veal Croquettes

A fried ball of seasoned chicken or veal, ham, mashed potatoes, and onions coated in cracker crumbs.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 11 ingredients
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Why it works: Potato and onion are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 3% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 9,023 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓

Chicken or Veal Croquettes

Ingredients

Directions

Make the mixture

  1. In a saucepan, bring the milk or cream to a boil.

  2. Add the butter, chopped chicken or veal, ham, mashed potatoes, onion, parsley, salt, and pepper.

  3. Boil for 5 minutes, stirring constantly.

  4. Add the beaten eggs and boil for another 5 minutes, stirring constantly.

  5. Remove from heat and spread the mixture on a platter to cool completely.

Shape and fry

  1. Once cool, shape into cone-shaped balls, coat in cracker crumbs.

  2. Fry in hot 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.

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 + oniontop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together9,023 recipes

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

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

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

  3. Milk + buttertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together81,283 recipes

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

  4. Chicken + potatotop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,756 recipes

    Shared aroma: (z)-4-decenal (green, must).

  5. Chicken + oniontop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together17,814 recipes

    Shared aroma: gamma-nonanolactone (coconut, sweet).

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

What each ingredient does

Eggs
Bind the mixture and help it set as it boils.
Mashed potatoes
Add body and moisture, helping the mixture hold its shape.
Milk or cream
Adds moisture and richness to the mixture, softening the meat and potato.
Butter
Adds fat and richness, contributing flavour and a tender texture.
Cracker crumbs
Form a dry outer coating that browns when fried.

The step that matters

Cool the mixture completely before shaping. A warm mixture is soft and sticky, so the croquettes lose their shape and can burst or crack in hot fat. Chilling firms the starches and egg proteins so the balls hold together while frying.

Swap the parsley

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

  1. Garlicfits about as well
  2. Thymefits about as well
  3. Parsleythe original
  4. Celeryfits about as well

Fit is the average pairing score against chicken, ham, potato, onion, milk, butter, 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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