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 ↓
Croquettes of Chicken
Ingredients
Directions
Make the filling
Melt the butter in a saucepan over medium heat.
Stir in the flour until smooth, then add the stock or milk and bring to a boil.
Season with salt and pepper, then mix in the chopped chicken and ham.
Transfer the mixture to a plate and let it cool.
Shape and coat
Take a tablespoon of the mixture, shape it into a ball or oval croquette, and coat it in breadcrumbs.
Dip each croquette in the beaten egg, then coat again in breadcrumbs.
Fry and serve
Fry the croquettes in hot oil until golden brown, then drain on paper towels.
Serve on a lace paper with fried parsley.
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.
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Parsley + peppertop 2% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together34,122 recipes
Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
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Butter + milktop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together81,283 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
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Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Parsley + flourtop 12% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together16,675 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Chicken + milktop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked 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
- Flour
- Mixed with melted butter to form a roux that thickens the stock or milk into a binding sauce.
- Butter
- Fat that forms the roux base and adds richness to the filling.
- Stock or milk
- Liquid that cooks with the roux into a thick sauce holding the filling together.
- Egg
- Beaten egg coating helps the breadcrumbs adhere and form a crisp, golden crust.
- Chicken
- Main protein providing the savory filling flavor and bulk.
The step that matters
Let the filling cool before shaping. A warm, soft filling is too loose to hold its shape and may burst or slump in the hot oil. Cooling lets the thickened sauce firm up so the croquettes keep their form while frying.
Swap the parsley
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (chicken, ham, butter, flour, milk, pepper, egg):
- Nutmegfits about as well
- Parsleythe original
- Thymefits about as well
- Tarragonfits about as well
Fit is the average pairing score against chicken, ham, butter, flour, milk, pepper, 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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