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Croquettes De Chevreull

Venison croquettes made with minced venison, mashed potatoes, bread crumbs, herbs, and egg yolks, then fried.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 12 ingredients
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Why it works: Parsley and shallot match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 3,737 recipes. Both carry 2,4-decadienal, which smells seaweed. The science ↓

Croquettes De Chevreull

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the filling

  1. In a bowl, combine minced venison, mashed potatoes, bread crumbs, parsley, shallot, and savoury herbs.

  2. Season with salt and pepper, then mix in the egg yolks.

  3. Melt butter in a pan and stir the mixture over low heat until it forms a thick paste.

  4. Allow the mixture to cool, then shape it into croquettes.

Coat and fry

  1. Coat each croquette in egg and then in bread crumbs.

  2. Fry the croquettes in boiling fat or lard until golden brown.

  3. Drain on paper towels, serve on a folded napkin, and garnish with fried parsley.

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. Parsley + shallottop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together3,737 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).

  2. Parsley + peppertop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together34,122 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. Bread + buttertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together27,232 recipes

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

  5. Potato + shallottop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together272 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).

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

What each ingredient does

Venison
Provides the main meaty flavour and body of the croquette.
Mashed potatoes
Adds starch and moisture, helping the mixture bind and stay tender inside.
Bread crumbs
Absorb moisture and form a crisp, golden outer coating when fried.
Egg yolks
Bind the mixture and add richness and structure as they set with heat.
Butter
Adds fat and richness, and helps the mixture thicken into a workable paste.
Shallot
Adds a mild, aromatic onion-like sweetness to the filling.

The step that matters

Thickening the mixture over low heat. Stirring over low heat drives off surplus moisture so the mixture becomes a firm paste. If it stays wet, the croquettes will be soft and may fall apart or split in the hot fat.

Swap the potato

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (venison, bread, parsley, shallot, pepper, egg, butter):

  1. Chivefits better
  2. Asparagusfits about as well
  3. Spinachfits about as well
  4. Potatothe original

Fit is the average pairing score against venison, bread, parsley, shallot, pepper, egg, butter. 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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