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Croquettes of Cold Cod

Croquettes made from finely chopped cold cod mixed with herbs, spices, egg, and breadcrumbs, then fried.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 12 ingredients
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Why it works: Parsley and lemon match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and 14,036 recipes mention both. Both carry beta-phellandrene, which smells minty, terpene. The science ↓

The recipe

Ingredients

Contains: egg, wheat, fish (auto-detected from the ingredients and method; we can miss things, so check labels)

Directions

Prepare the mixture

  1. Remove all the white flesh from the cold cod, ensuring it is free from bones.

  2. Chop the cod very finely with parsley, marjoram, and lemon rind.

  3. Season the mixture with pepper, coarse sea salt, and grated nutmeg.

  4. Mix in a few bread crumbs and 1 egg until well combined.

  5. Roll the mixture into balls the size of a small apple.

Coat and fry

  1. Prepare a plate with fine bread crumbs. Prepare another plate with beaten eggs.

  2. Heat oil in a pan until boiling hot.

  3. Fry the croquettes until light brown.

Serve

  1. Serve on a fish napkin garnished with parsley and lemon slices.

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 aroma chemistry they share, and how many recipes mention both.

  1. Parsley + lemontop 1% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together14,036 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

  2. Marjoram + lemontop 1% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together957 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

  3. Parsley + marjoramtop 1% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together1,979 recipes

    Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).

  4. Marjoram + nutmegtop 2% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together687 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  5. Parsley + peppertop 2% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together34,118 recipes

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

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

What each ingredient does

Cold cod
Provides the main body and flaky texture of the croquettes.
Bread crumbs
Absorb moisture and bind the mixture so the balls hold their shape.
Egg
Binds the mixture together and sets during cooking to hold the croquettes.
Lemon rind
Adds bright aromatic flavour that lifts the fish.

The step that matters

Frying in boiling-hot oil. If the oil is not hot enough, the croquettes absorb grease and turn heavy and soggy. Hot oil quickly sets the crumb and egg coating, giving a crisp, golden exterior while the inside stays moist.

Flavor stand-ins for the nutmeg

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (parsley, marjoram, lemon, pepper, bread, egg):

  1. Thymebetter flavor fit
  2. Sagebetter flavor fit
  3. Basilbetter flavor fit
  4. Nutmegthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against parsley, marjoram, lemon, pepper, bread, egg. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes. This compares flavor only: it does not check the job the ingredient does in the dish (bulk, moisture, acidity, structure).

“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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