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Macaroni and Cheese Croquettes

A fried croquette made from macaroni, cheese, and eggs, coated in breadcrumbs.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 14 ingredients
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Why it works: Parmesan cheese and gruyere cheese match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 152 recipes. Both carry ethyl 2-methylbutyrate, which smells fruity, apple. The science ↓

Macaroni and Cheese Croquettes

Ingredients

Directions

Cook the macaroni

  1. Bring 2 quarts of water to a boil in a stew-pan with ¼ teaspoon coarse sea salt and a small piece of butter.

  2. Add ½ pound of macaroni and cook until tender, then drain and let cool.

  3. Cut the cooled macaroni into ¼-inch pieces and return to a stew-pan with ½ pint of Bechamel, cayenne pepper, salt, and grated nutmeg.

Make the filling

  1. Simmer gently until thick, stirring occasionally.

  2. Add ½ pound of grated Parmesan and Gruyere cheese, stirring for a few minutes until melted.

  3. Remove from heat and quickly stir in 4 egg yolks, then stir for another minute to set the eggs.

  4. Pour the mixture onto a dish and let it cool completely.

Shape and fry

  1. Shape the cooled mixture into pieces larger than walnuts or in the shape of pears.

  2. Dip each piece into the beaten eggs, then roll in bread crumbs, and repeat the process.

  3. Place the croquettes in a wire basket and fry in very hot lard until golden.

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. Parmesan cheese + gruyere cheesetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together152 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl 2-methylbutyrate (fruity, apple).

  2. Butter + breadtop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together27,232 recipes

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

  3. Pepper + nutmegtop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together13,015 recipes

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

  4. Butter + parmesan cheesetop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,163 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

  5. Butter + gruyere cheesetop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together323 recipes

    Shared aroma: gamma-decalactone (peach, creamy).

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

What each ingredient does

Macaroni
Forms the bulk and body of the croquette filling once cut and cooled.
Bechamel sauce
Adds creamy moisture that binds the pasta and cheese into a spreadable mass.
Parmesan and gruyere cheese
Adds savory flavor and melts into the sauce to give the filling its richness and firmness when cooled.
Egg yolks
Enriches the filling and sets with gentle heat to help bind it.
Beaten eggs
Create a coating that helps bread crumbs stick and form a crisp shell.
Bread crumbs
Form a crisp, golden outer crust when fried.

The step that matters

Let the filling cool completely before shaping. A warm, soft filling cannot hold its shape and may burst or slump in the hot fat. Chilling firms the starch and fat so the pieces keep their form through breading and frying.

Swap the nutmeg

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (butter, sauce, pepper, parmesan cheese, gruyere cheese, egg, bread):

  1. Parsleyfits about as well
  2. Nutmegthe original
  3. Capersfits about as well
  4. Thymefits less well

Fit is the average pairing score against butter, sauce, pepper, parmesan cheese, gruyere cheese, egg, bread. 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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