Why it works: Pepper and parsley 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 ↓
Potato Croquettes
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the potato mixture
Mash the potatoes by rubbing them through a wire sieve with the back of a wooden spoon.
Dissolve the butter, beat one egg, and add these to the potatoes along with salt, pepper, and cayenne; mix thoroughly.
Shape and coat
Flour your hands and a baking board, then form the mixture into pear shapes.
Paint the croquettes with the remaining beaten egg, then roll them in finely made bread crumbs.
Fry and serve
Place them in a wire frying basket and fry in enough hot fat to cover them.
Drain on soft paper and stick a small piece of parsley stem in the thin end of each croquette, then serve on a folded napkin or lace paper.
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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Pepper + parsleytop 2% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together34,122 recipes
Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
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Potato + parsleytop 5% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together2,855 recipes
Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
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Butter + breadtop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together27,232 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).
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Potato + peppertop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together8,305 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Potato + buttertop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together6,456 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Potatoes
- Form the bulk of the croquette, giving a soft, starchy interior once mashed.
- Butter
- Adds richness and moisture to the mashed potato, softening its texture.
- Eggs
- Bind the mashed potato together and form a coating that helps the crumbs stick.
- White bread crumbs
- Form a crisp outer crust when fried, contrasting with the soft interior.
The step that matters
Coating and frying the croquettes. Bread crumbs must be evenly coated over a fully egg-painted surface, or they can fall off in the hot fat. Fry in enough hot fat to cover so they cook evenly and brown into a crisp crust.
Swap the potato
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (butter, bread, egg, pepper, parsley):
- Shallotfits about as well
- Capsicumfits about as well
- Chivefits about as well
- Potatothe original
Fit is the average pairing score against butter, bread, egg, pepper, parsley. 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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