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Croquettes of Bice

Rice croquettes made from cooked rice, milk, sugar, bitter almonds, and lemon rind, then coated and fried.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 ingredients
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Why it works: Rice and almond match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 6% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,456 recipes. Both carry 2,4-decadienal, which smells seaweed. The science ↓

Croquettes of Bice

Ingredients

Directions

Make the rice mixture

  1. Wipe the rice clean with a dry cloth.

  2. In a clean saucepan, combine the rice and milk.

  3. Cook gently by the side of the fire, stirring often to prevent sticking.

  4. When the rice is half done, add sugar, finely beaten almonds, and lemon rind.

  5. Continue simmering until the rice is soft, thick, and dry.

  6. Spread the rice on a dish and let it cool.

Shape, coat and fry

  1. Once cool, roll the rice into small balls.

  2. Dip each ball in beaten egg, then coat with bread crumbs.

  3. Fry the croquettes in fresh butter until light brown.

  4. Drain on a sieve covered with a soft cloth or blotting paper.

  5. Serve immediately in a hot dish.

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. Rice + almondtop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,456 recipes

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

  2. Bread + buttertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together27,232 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).

  3. Milk + buttertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together81,283 recipes

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

  4. Rice + milktop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together7,374 recipes

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

  5. Almond + lemontop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together5,655 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

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

What each ingredient does

Rice
Swells in milk and sets into a thick, soft mass that holds the croquette shape.
Milk
Cooks into the rice, giving it a creamy, moist texture.
Sugar
Adds sweetness and helps the mixture taste rich and final.
Bitter almonds
Add a strong, aromatic flavour to the rice mixture.
Beaten egg
Forms a coating that helps the bread crumbs stick to each ball.
Fine bread crumbs
Create a crisp outer layer when the croquettes are fried.

The step that matters

Simmering the rice until thick and dry. If the rice is undercooked or left too wet, the balls will not hold their shape and may fall apart in the butter. Stirring often keeps the starch from sticking and scorching on the base of the pan.

Swap the lemon

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (rice, milk, sugar, almond, egg, bread, butter):

  1. Vanillafits better
  2. Coconutfits better
  3. Figfits better
  4. Lemonthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against rice, milk, sugar, almond, egg, bread, butter. 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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