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Fish Croquettes

A savory dish of minced fish formed into balls, coated in breadcrumbs, and fried.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 11 ingredients
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Fish Croquettes

Why it works: Pepper and parsley match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 34,122 recipes. Both carry 4'-methylacetophenone, which smells bitter almond. The science ↓

Fish Croquettes

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the fish

  1. Remove all bones and skin from the fish and mince it very fine.

Make the filling

  1. Melt the butter in a saucepan, then gradually stir in the flour and hot milk.

  2. Add pepper, salt, nutmeg, and chopped parsley, stirring until thickened.

  3. Incorporate the minced fish and cook for a few minutes, stirring constantly.

  4. Transfer the mixture to a dish and let it cool.

Shape, coat and fry

  1. Form the fish mixture into balls, dip them in beaten eggs, then coat with bread crumbs.

  2. Dip the balls in eggs and crumbs again.

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

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

  2. Parsley + nutmegtop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together5,062 recipes

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

  3. Butter + milktop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together81,283 recipes

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

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

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

  5. Flour + nutmegtop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together18,623 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

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

What each ingredient does

Fish
Provides the main body and flavour of the croquettes.
Butter
Enriches the sauce and adds richness and flavour to the filling.
Flour
Thickens the milk into a binding sauce that holds the fish together.
Milk
Forms the liquid base of the sauce, giving the filling a smooth, creamy texture.
Eggs
Bind the coating so the bread crumbs adhere evenly and form a crust.

The step that matters

Cool the mixture before shaping. A warm, loose filling will not hold its shape and may split or burst in the hot fat. Cooling lets the starch-thickened sauce set so the balls keep their form and fry evenly.

Swap the parsley

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

  1. Cinnamonfits better
  2. Parsleythe original
  3. Cardamomfits about as well
  4. Tarragonfits less well

Fit is the average pairing score against fish, butter, flour, milk, pepper, nutmeg, 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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