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Hominy Croquettes

Hominy croquettes are fried balls of hominy, butter, milk, sugar, egg, and crumbs.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 10 ingredients
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Why it works: Butter and milk are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 81,283 recipes. Both carry (z)-4-heptenal, which smells biscuit, cream. The science ↓

Hominy Croquettes

Ingredients

Directions

Make the mixture

  1. In a bowl, combine the cold boiled hominy and melted butter.

  2. Gradually stir in the milk until a soft, light paste forms.

  3. Add the white sugar, salt, and well-beaten egg; mix well.

Shape and fry

  1. With floured hands, shape the mixture into oval balls.

  2. Dip each ball in beaten egg, then roll in cracker crumbs.

  3. Fry the croquettes 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. Butter + milktop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together81,283 recipes

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

  2. Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together124,287 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  3. Milk + flourtop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together78,219 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  4. Sugar + flourtop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together92,116 recipes

    Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).

  5. Egg + flourtop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together106,462 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

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

Hominy
Forms the bulk of the croquette and gives it a tender, starchy body.
Milk
Moistens the hominy and binds it into a soft, light paste.
Egg
Binds the mixture and sets when cooked, helping the croquettes hold their shape.
Butter
Adds richness and fat, softening the texture and adding flavor.

The step that matters

Shape and fry the croquettes. The mixture is soft, so it must be well chilled or firm enough to shape, and the coating must be fully sealed. Fry in hot lard so the crumb crust browns quickly and the interior heats through without the coating absorbing excess fat.

“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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