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Chicken Croquettes

A fried patty of chicken, ham, butter, flour, stock, and parsley.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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Why it works: Parsley and pepper 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 ↓

Chicken Croquettes

Ingredients

Directions

The book gives no cooking times; the times in the steps were added in transcription, so check for doneness rather than trusting the clock.

Make the base

  1. In a saucepan, melt the butter over medium heat.

  2. Stir in the flour and cook for 1 minute.

  3. Gradually add the stock or milk, stirring until thickened.

  4. Season with salt and pepper.

  5. Add the chopped chicken, ham, and parsley; mix well.

  6. Spread the mixture on a plate and let it cool.

Shape and fry

  1. Once cool, form into balls, cutlets, or cork shapes.

  2. Dip in beaten egg, then coat with breadcrumbs.

  3. Fry in hot oil until golden brown.

  4. Serve on lace paper and garnish with 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 + peppertop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together34,122 recipes

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

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

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

  3. Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together124,287 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  4. Flour + parsleytop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together16,675 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  5. Chicken + milktop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,389 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-hexanal (fruit).

Butter and flour barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 124,287 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.

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

What each ingredient does

Butter
Enriches the flour base and adds richness and a savoury flavour to the filling.
Flour
Thickens the stock or milk into a binding sauce that holds the filling together.
Stock or milk
Forms the liquid of the sauce, which moistens the chicken and ham.
Cooked chicken
Provides the main filling, giving bulk and flavour to the croquettes.
Cooked ham
Adds extra savoury flavour to the filling.

The step that matters

Cooling the filling before shaping. A thickened sauce must cool and firm up before shaping; a warm, loose mixture will not hold its shape and may burst or spread when fried.

Swap the parsley

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (chicken, ham, butter, flour, milk, pepper):

  1. Thymefits about as well
  2. Parsleythe original
  3. Nutmegfits about as well
  4. Marjoramfits about as well

Fit is the average pairing score against chicken, ham, butter, flour, milk, pepper. 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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