Why it works: Celery and pepper match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 16,012 recipes. Both carry 4'-methylacetophenone, which smells bitter almond. The science ↓
Celery Croquettes
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the celery
Trim the celery.
Wash the celery.
Cut the celery into short pieces.
Blanch the celery in salted water.
Drain the celery.
Cook the celery in seasoned stock until tender.
Drain the cooked celery.
Chop the celery finely.
Make the sauce
Melt the butter in a saucepan.
Add the chopped shallot.
Fry for a minute.
Stir in the flour.
Gradually add the milk, stirring until it boils.
Add the chopped celery.
Season with salt and pepper.
Cook for 15 minutes.
Stir in the egg yolk at the end.
Spread the mixture on a dish.
Let it cool.
Shape and fry
Shape the mixture into croquettes.
Coat the croquettes with egg and breadcrumbs.
Fry in hot oil until golden.
Drain on a cloth or paper.
Serve.
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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Celery + peppertop 5% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together16,012 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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Celery + shallottop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together459 recipes
Shared aroma: nonanal (fat, citrus).
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Shallot + peppertop 11% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together5,898 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
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Butter + shallottop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together4,426 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
- Celery
- Forms the bulk of the croquettes and gives them their main flavour and tender texture.
- Butter
- Enriches the sauce and carries the shallot flavour through the base mixture.
- Milk
- Liquid that, with the flour, thickens into a sauce that binds the celery together.
- Egg yolk
- Enriches and helps bind the mixture so it holds its shape when cooked.
- Shallot
- Adds a mild aromatic onion-like flavour to the sauce.
The step that matters
Gradually add the milk, stirring until it boils. Adding the milk slowly while stirring lets the flour starch disperse evenly, which prevents lumps and produces a smooth sauce. The sauce must be thick enough to hold its shape when it cools, so the boil and the following cook time matter.
Swap the celery
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (butter, shallot, milk, egg, pepper):
- Parsleyfits better
- Capersfits better
- Tarragonfits better
- Celerythe original
Fit is the average pairing score against butter, shallot, milk, 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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