Name: Beef Croquettes
Ingredients: cold beef, chopped; cold ham (optional); 2 eggs; a little milk

Why it works: Beef and milk are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 12% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 3,759 recipes. Both carry 1-hexanal, which smells fruit. The science ↓

Beef Croquettes

Ingredients

cold beef, chopped
cold ham (optional)
2 eggs
a little milk

Directions

Prepare

Chop the cold beef and, if convenient, add chopped cold ham.
Beat the eggs in a bowl.
Mix the chopped beef, ham, beaten eggs, and a little milk together.

Shape and fry

Shape the mixture into rolls.
Fry the rolls 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.

Beef + milktop 12% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together3,759 recipes

Shared aroma: 1-hexanal (fruit).
Beef + hamtop 15% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together1,729 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-acetyl-1-pyrroline (popcorn, roasted).
Ham + eggtop 17% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together4,526 recipes

Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
Egg + milktop 18% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together88,785 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Ham + milktop 23% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together1,089 recipes

Shared aroma: gamma-nonanolactone (coconut, sweet).

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

What each ingredient does

Cold beef: Provides the main body and savory flavor of the croquette filling.
Eggs: Bind the chopped meat together so the rolls hold their shape.
Milk: Adds moisture so the filling stays tender rather than dry.

“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.