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Veal Croquettes

A savory dish of minced veal and ham mixed with spices, milk, and eggs, formed into balls, breaded, and fried.

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 filling

  1. In a chopping bowl, mince the cold veal, cold ham, and onion.

  2. Add mace, parsley, pepper, and salt to the mixture.

  3. Bring the milk or cream to a boil, then stir in the cold butter and the meat mixture.

  4. Beat the eggs and mix in the corn-starch or flour, then add to the mixture.

  5. Cook for about 10 minutes, stirring carefully, then remove from heat.

  6. Spread the mixture on a platter and let it cool, then roll into balls and flatten each one.

Coat and fry

  1. Dip the croquettes in egg and bread crumbs.

  2. 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. Milk + buttertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together81,283 recipes

    Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).

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

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

  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 main body of the croquette and gives it a meaty texture.
Milk or cream
Makes a thick, creamy base that holds the minced meat together.
Eggs
Bind the mixture and help it set firm when cooked.
Corn-starch or flour
Thickens the mixture so the croquettes hold their shape.
Butter
Adds richness and a smooth, tender texture to the filling.

The step that matters

Cooking the filling before shaping. The mixture must be thick and cooled enough to hold its shape. Under-cooked filling stays loose and falls apart when rolled and fried, while the starch thickens as it heats.

Swap the mace

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

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

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