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Ham Croqettes

Ham croquettes are fried cakes made from chopped ham, mashed potatoes, bread crumbs, butter, and egg.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 5 ingredients
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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 Croqettes

Ingredients

Directions

Make the mixture

  1. In a bowl, mix the chopped ham, mashed potatoes, bread crumbs, butter, and egg until well combined.

Shape and coat

  1. Shape the mixture into flat cakes.

  2. Roll each cake in bread crumbs to coat.

Fry

  1. Fry the cakes in hot fat 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. 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. Potato + breadtop 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

Cold potatoes
Provide the bulk and starch that hold the croquettes together and give a soft interior.
Egg
Binds the mixture so the cakes hold their shape while frying.
Bread crumbs
Form a crisp outer coating that browns when fried.
Cooked ham
Adds savory flavor and a meaty texture throughout the cakes.

The step that matters

Frying the cakes in hot fat. If the fat is not hot enough, the coating absorbs oil and turns greasy before it browns, and the cakes can fall apart. Hot fat quickly sets the crumb crust and browns it evenly.

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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