Why it works: Potato and chive work together. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 611 recipes. Both carry decanal, which smells soap, orange peel. The science ↓
Potato Croquettes
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Mash the cold cooked potatoes until smooth.
Add a pat of butter and enough milk or cream to achieve a soft consistency.
Mix in the chopped parsley and chives, then form the mixture into balls.
Coat and fry
Coat each ball with beaten eggs, then roll in breadcrumbs.
Fry the croquettes in hot oil until golden brown, then drain and serve.
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.
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Potato + chivetop 2% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together611 recipes
Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).
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Parsley + chivetop 3% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together2,150 recipes
Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).
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Potato + parsleytop 5% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together2,855 recipes
Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
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Butter + milktop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together81,283 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
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Potato + milktop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together3,611 recipes
Shared aroma: (e,z)-2,6-nonadienal (cucumber, melon).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Potatoes
- Form the bulk of the croquettes and set into a soft, cohesive interior when mashed.
- Butter
- Adds richness and fat, giving the mashed potato a smoother, more flavorful texture.
- Milk or cream
- Adds moisture so the mash reaches a soft, workable consistency.
- Eggs
- Bind the breadcrumb coating so it adheres and helps the crust set during frying.
- Breadcrumbs
- Form a crisp outer layer that browns when fried.
The step that matters
Fry the croquettes in hot oil until golden brown. If the oil is not hot enough, the coating absorbs oil and turns greasy before it crisps, while the interior may stay cold. Hot oil sets the egg and breadcrumb crust quickly and drives browning.
Swap the chive
The recipe marks chive as optional. How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (potato, butter, milk, parsley, egg):
- Chivethe original
- Asparagusfits about as well
- Leekfits less well
- Carrotfits less well
Fit is the average pairing score against potato, butter, milk, parsley, 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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