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Fish Croquettes

A fried fish patty made with pounded fish, eggs, milk, flour, and anchovy essence.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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Fish Croquettes

Why it works: Fish and milk are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 13% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,432 recipes. Both carry 4-heptenal, which smells creamy, biscuit. The science ↓

Fish Croquettes

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the filling

  1. Pound the fish in a mortar until smooth.

  2. Mix the pounded fish with the chopped hard-boiled egg.

Make the batter

  1. In a separate bowl, combine the egg, milk, flour, and essence of anchovies to make a batter.

  2. Mix the batter with the fish mixture until well combined.

Shape and fry

  1. Roll the mixture into balls.

  2. Heat oil in a pan and fry the balls 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. Fish + milktop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,432 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4-heptenal (creamy, biscuit).

  2. Milk + flourtop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together78,219 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  3. Egg + flourtop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together106,462 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  4. Egg + milktop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together88,785 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

  5. Fish + eggtop 22% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,782 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

Milk and flour barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 78,219 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

Fish
Forms the main body of the croquettes once pounded smooth.
Egg
Binds the mixture and helps it set firm when cooked.
Flour
Thickens the batter so it holds the croquettes together.
Milk
Adds moisture to the batter, keeping the croquettes tender.
Essence of anchovies
Adds a salty, savoury flavour to the fish mixture.

The step that matters

Frying the balls until golden brown. Oil that is too cool lets the balls soak up grease and fall apart, while oil that is too hot browns the outside before the centre is cooked through. Gentle, steady heat gives an even golden crust.

“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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