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Fish Croquettes

Fish croquettes are fried, breaded fish and potato mixture shaped into corks.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 9 ingredients
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Fish 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 ↓

Fish Croquettes

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the filling

  1. Remove skin and bones from the fish and chop it coarsely.

  2. Heat the butter in a pan, then add the fish and mashed potatoes.

  3. Season with salt and pepper, and add enough milk to moisten the mixture.

  4. Stir over heat until well mixed, then transfer to a plate and let cool.

Shape and coat

  1. Form the mixture into cork-shaped pieces.

  2. Brush with beaten egg mixed with 1 tablespoon of milk or water, then coat with breadcrumbs.

Fry and serve

  1. Fry in hot oil for about 5 minutes until golden brown.

  2. Drain well and serve garnished with crisply-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. Potato + parsleytop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,855 recipes

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

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

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

  4. Potato + peppertop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together8,305 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  5. Potato + milktop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together3,611 recipes

    Shared aroma: (e,z)-2,6-nonadienal (cucumber, melon).

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

What each ingredient does

Cooked fish
Provides the main body and flavor of the croquettes.
Mashed potatoes
Binds the mixture and keeps the filling soft and moist.
Butter
Adds richness and fat that carries flavor into the filling.
Egg
Binds the coating so the breadcrumbs adhere and form a crust.
Breadcrumbs
Form a crisp, golden outer crust when fried.

The step that matters

Let the mixture cool before shaping. A warm, soft mixture is sticky and hard to form, and it can break apart or lose its shape during coating and frying. Cooling firms the starches and fats so the pieces hold together in hot oil.

Swap the parsley

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (fish, potato, butter, egg, milk, pepper):

  1. Parsleythe original
  2. Nutmegfits about as well
  3. Thymefits less well
  4. Dillfits less well

Fit is the average pairing score against fish, potato, butter, egg, milk, pepper. 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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