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Salmon Croquettes

Salmon croquettes are fried balls of salmon mixture coated in crumbs.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 14 ingredients
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Salmon Croquettes

Why it works: Pepper and parsley 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 ↓

Salmon Croquettes

Ingredients

Directions

Make the salmon mixture

  1. Mince the remnants of boiled salmon.

  2. In a saucepan, add enough milk to moisten the fish and thicken with flour like drawn butter.

  3. Add butter and cook for 1 minute.

  4. Stir in pepper, salt, nutmeg, and minced parsley to taste, then add the salmon.

  5. Heat through, then remove from heat and stir in the egg yolk and lemon juice.

  6. Spread the mixture on a platter to cool.

Shape and coat

  1. Form into balls, using 1 tablespoon of the mixture for each.

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

  3. Let them sit for 1 hour.

Fry and serve

  1. Fry in hot lard until golden brown.

  2. Serve with fried parsley.

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. Pepper + parsleytop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together34,122 recipes

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

  2. Nutmeg + parsleytop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together5,062 recipes

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

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

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

  4. Pepper + nutmegtop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together13,015 recipes

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

  5. Flour + nutmegtop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together18,623 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

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

What each ingredient does

Remnants of boiled salmon
Provides the main body and flavor of the croquettes.
Flour
Thickens the milk into a binding sauce that holds the salmon together.
Milk
Moistens the fish and, with flour, forms a creamy binding base.
Egg yolk
Adds richness and helps bind the mixture as it sets.
Butter
Adds fat and richness to the sauce, improving flavor and texture.
Cracker or bread crumbs
Forms a crisp, golden outer crust when fried.

The step that matters

Let them sit for 1 hour. Resting the coated balls lets the coating adhere firmly and dry slightly, so the crumbs stay on during frying instead of falling off into the hot lard.

Swap the parsley

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (salmon, milk, flour, butter, egg, pepper, nutmeg):

  1. Cinnamonfits better
  2. Parsleythe original
  3. Cardamomfits about as well
  4. Capersfits about as well

Fit is the average pairing score against salmon, milk, flour, butter, egg, pepper, nutmeg. 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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