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Ham Croquettes

A fried snack of ham, mashed potatoes, and breadcrumbs.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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Ham Croquettes

Why it works: Bread and butter are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 27,232 recipes. Both carry delta-decalactone, which smells sweet, creamy. The science ↓

Ham Croquettes

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Combine ham, cayenne, butter, eggs, and mashed potatoes in a bowl.

  2. Let the mixture cool slightly, then shape into croquettes.

Coat and fry

  1. Roll each croquette in bread crumbs, dip in beaten egg, and roll again in crumbs.

  2. Heat oil in a frying pan and fry croquettes for 2 minutes until golden.

  3. Drain on paper towels and serve.

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.

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.

  1. Bread + buttertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together27,232 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).

  2. Ham + breadtop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,536 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-acetyl-1-pyrroline (popcorn, roasted).

  3. Potato + buttertop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together6,456 recipes

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

  4. Bread + eggtop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together22,662 recipes

    Shared aroma: (e)-2-octenal (fatty, green).

  5. Bread + potatotop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together434 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-acetyl-1-pyrroline (popcorn, roasted).

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

What each ingredient does

Mashed potatoes
Provides the bulk and soft body that holds the croquette together.
Eggs
Bind the mixture and, when dipped, help the crumb coating adhere.
Bread crumbs
Form a crisp, golden outer crust when fried.
Butter
Adds richness and moisture to the filling.
Cooked ham
Provides the main savory flavor of the filling.

The step that matters

Let the mixture cool slightly before shaping. A very hot, soft mixture is sticky and hard to shape, and it can break apart or tear the coating. Cooling slightly firms the starches and proteins enough to hold a neat shape.

Swap the potato

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (ham, bread, butter, egg):

  1. Asparagusfits better
  2. Leekfits better
  3. Shallotfits about as well
  4. Potatothe original

Fit is the average pairing score against ham, bread, butter, egg. 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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