Why it works: Butter and bread are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 27,232 recipes. Both carry delta-decalactone, which smells sweet, creamy. The science ↓
Potato Croquettes
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the mixture
Mix the butter with the warm riced potatoes.
Add the milk, salt, pepper, nutmeg, and one beaten egg; mix thoroughly.
If the mixture is too dry, add more milk to help shape it.
Shape and coat
Shape the mixture into rolls about 4 inches long and 1½ inches thick, or form them into smooth, flattened rounds.
Beat the second egg on a plate and prepare the bread crumbs.
Roll each croquette in the egg, then in the bread crumbs.
Fry and serve
Fry the croquettes in hot lard until golden brown.
Drain on brown paper and serve on a napkin.
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.
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Butter + breadtop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together27,232 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).
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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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Nutmeg + peppertop 7% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together13,015 recipes
Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
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Potato + nutmegtop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,052 recipes
Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
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Potato + peppertop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together8,305 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Potatoes
- Form the soft body of the croquette once riced and bound with fat and egg.
- Butter
- Adds fat and richness, coating the potato starch for a smoother, tender interior.
- Eggs
- Bind the mixture and form a set coating that holds the bread crumbs in place.
- Bread crumbs
- Form a crisp, golden outer crust when fried.
- Milk or cream
- Adds moisture so the mixture is soft enough to shape.
The step that matters
Fry in hot lard until golden brown. The fat must be hot enough to crisp and brown the crumb coating quickly; if it is too cool, the croquettes absorb grease and turn soggy before the crust forms.
Swap the potato
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (butter, bread, milk, nutmeg, egg, pepper):
- Capsicumfits about as well
- Potatothe original
- Asparagusfits about as well
- Spinachfits about as well
Fit is the average pairing score against butter, bread, milk, nutmeg, egg, pepper. 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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