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 ↓
Corned Beef Croquettes
Ingredients
Directions
Make the filling
Melt the butter in a saucepan.
Add the mashed potato and cream, stirring until well mixed and heated.
Stir in the corned beef, salt, and pepper.
Remove from heat and gently mix in the chopped parsley and beaten egg.
Allow the mixture to cool, then form into croquettes.
Coat and fry
Coat the croquettes with egg and breadcrumbs.
Fry in deep, hot oil until golden brown.
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.
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Parsley + peppertop 2% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together34,122 recipes
Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
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Parsley + potatotop 5% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together2,855 recipes
Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
-
Beef + potatotop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together2,052 recipes
Shared aroma: sotolon (curry, maple).
-
Cream + buttertop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together41,516 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
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Potato + peppertop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together8,305 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Corned beef
- Provides the main savoury flavour and meaty body of the filling.
- Mashed potato
- Forms the bulk of the filling and binds it into a soft, moldable mixture.
- Egg
- Binds the filling together and helps the coating set during frying.
- Butter
- Adds richness and flavour to the potato base.
- Cream
- Adds moisture and smoothness to the mashed potato.
The step that matters
Let the mixture cool before forming. A warm, soft filling is hard to shape and may slump or split. Cooling firms the starch and the egg so the croquettes hold their shape in the hot oil.
Swap the parsley
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (beef, potato, cream, egg, butter, pepper):
- Nutmegfits about as well
- Parsleythe original
- Tarragonfits about as well
- Thymefits less well
Fit is the average pairing score against beef, potato, cream, egg, butter, 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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