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Veal Croquettes

Veal croquettes are small, fried meatballs made from minced veal, ham, onion, spices, milk, eggs, and breadcrumbs.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 12 ingredients
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Why it works: Parsley and pepper 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 ↓

Veal Croquettes

Ingredients

Directions

Make the custard base

  1. Combine minced veal, cold ham, onion, mace, parsley, pepper, and salt in a chopping bowl.

  2. Heat milk or cream until boiling, then stir in cold butter and the veal mixture.

  3. Beat the eggs and mix the beaten eggs with corn-starch or flour.

  4. Add the egg mixture to the veal mixture.

  5. Cook for 10 minutes, stirring carefully.

  6. Remove the mixture from heat.

Shape and fry

  1. Spread the mixture on a platter to cool.

  2. Roll the cooled mixture into balls and flatten each one.

  3. Dip each croquette in beaten egg.

  4. Dip the egg-coated croquettes in bread crumbs.

  5. Fry in hot lard until golden brown.

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 their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.

  1. Parsley + peppertop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together34,122 recipes

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

  2. Onion + parsleytop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together25,843 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).

  3. Coffee + milktop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,202 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4-heptenal (creamy, biscuit).

  4. Onion + peppertop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together68,474 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  5. Mace + parsleytop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,268 recipes

    Shared aroma: myristicin (spice, warm).

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

What each ingredient does

Veal
Forms the bulk of the filling and gives the croquettes their savoury meaty flavour.
Milk or cream
Creates a moist, soft base that thickens the veal mixture as it cooks.
Eggs
Bind the mixture and set when heated, holding the croquette together.
Corn-starch or flour
Thickens the mixture so it firms up enough to be shaped and handled.
Butter
Adds richness and fat, giving a smoother, more tender texture.

The step that matters

Cook for 10 minutes, stirring carefully. The mixture must thicken and the egg and starch must set so it holds its shape. Stirring gently prevents scorching on the bottom and stops the egg from curdling into lumps.

Swap the mace

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (coffee, veal, ham, onion, parsley, pepper, milk):

  1. Celeryfits better
  2. Thymefits better
  3. Marjoramfits better
  4. Macethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against coffee, veal, ham, onion, parsley, pepper, milk. 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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