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Mutton Croquettes

Finely chopped mutton formed into egg‑shaped balls, coated in breadcrumbs, and fried.

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

Mutton Croquettes

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the mutton

  1. Clear the mutton from fat, skin, and gristle, and chop it very fine.

  2. Melt butter in a stewpan, add the chopped mutton, and heat without boiling.

  3. Spread the mixture on a dish to cool.

Shape and coat

  1. Once cool, divide into equal portions and form into egg-shaped balls.

  2. Roll the balls in grated crumbs.

  3. Beat the egg whites lightly and mix with the yolks.

  4. Dip the balls in the egg mixture, then roll them again in bread crumbs.

Fry and serve

  1. Melt butter or lard in a frying pan and fry the balls until light brown on both sides.

  2. Sprinkle with salt and pile the croquettes on a dish, garnishing 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. Pepper + parsleytop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together34,122 recipes

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

  2. Parsley + olivetop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together9,649 recipes

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

  3. Pepper + olivetop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together30,263 recipes

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

  4. Butter + parsleytop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together28,563 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-hexenal (green, leafy).

  5. Butter + olivetop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together11,887 recipes

    Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).

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

What each ingredient does

Cold roast mutton
Forms the main filling, providing the savory meat base of each croquette.
Butter
Adds richness and moisture to the chopped mutton, helping it hold together.
Egg yolks
Bind the mutton mixture and add richness to the coating.
Egg whites
Help the crumb coating adhere and set, giving a crisp, golden shell when fried.
Stock
Adds moisture and savory flavor to the mutton filling.
Grated crumbs
Form a crisp outer crust that browns when fried.

The step that matters

Cooling the mutton mixture before shaping. If the mutton is shaped while still warm, it stays soft and loose and may fall apart. Cooling firms the mixture so the balls hold their shape through coating and frying.

“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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