Why it works: Potato and parsley are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,855 recipes. Both carry 4'-methylacetophenone, which smells bitter almond. The science ↓
Potato Croquettes
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the potato
Boil or steam the potatoes until soft, then dry them by the fire.
Rub the potatoes through a wire sieve into a bowl.
Add 1 egg, butter, and salt, then mix well.
Shape and coat
Flour your hands and the board.
Take a small portion of the mixture and roll it into a ball, pear shape, or roll.
If pear-shaped, insert a parsley stalk into the thin end.
Dip each piece into the beaten egg, then coat with bread crumbs.
Fry and serve
Fry the croquettes in boiling fat until golden brown.
Drain on kitchen paper to remove excess fat.
Arrange in a circle on a dish.
Fill the center with fried parsley.
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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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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Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Flour + parsleytop 12% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together16,675 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Potato + buttertop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together6,456 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
Butter and flour barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 124,287 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.
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 mixture and give the croquettes their soft, fluffy interior.
- Eggs
- Bind the mixture and, beaten, form a coating that helps bread crumbs stick.
- Butter
- Adds fat for richness and a smoother, more tender texture.
- Bread crumbs
- Form a crisp, golden outer crust when fried.
The step that matters
Fry the croquettes in boiling fat until golden brown. The fat must be hot enough to crisp the crumb coating quickly. If it is too cool, the croquettes absorb excess fat and turn greasy and may fall apart before the coating sets.
Swap the potato
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (egg, butter, flour, bread, parsley):
- Shallotfits better
- Chivefits better
- Leekfits better
- Potatothe original
Fit is the average pairing score against egg, butter, flour, bread, 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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