Name: Veal Croquettes
Ingredients: very finely minced veal; cream; 2 beaten eggs; coarse sea salt; black pepper; breadcrumbs

Why it works: Veal and pepper are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 19% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 10,049 recipes. Both carry 2-nonenal, which smells fatty, green. The science ↓

Veal Croquettes

Ingredients

Directions

The book gives no oven temperature. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.

Prepare the mixture

Moisten the minced veal with cream and beaten eggs.
Season with coarse sea salt and black pepper.

Shape and bake

Form the mixture into small cones by hand or using a wineglass.
Coat the outside with breadcrumbs.
Bake in a 400°F (200°C) oven, basting frequently.

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.

Veal + peppertop 19% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together10,049 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Cream + peppertop 23% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together21,449 recipes

Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).
Cream + eggtop 24% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together42,166 recipes

Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).
Veal + creamtop 27% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together3,202 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-heptanol (bitter, floral).
Veal + eggtop 28% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together6,845 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

Cream and pepper barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 21,449 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

Veal: Forms the main body of the croquettes and gives them their meaty structure.
Cream: Adds moisture, keeping the minced veal tender rather than dry.
Eggs: Bind the minced veal so the shaped croquettes hold together.
Breadcrumbs: Form a coating that browns and crisps in the oven.

“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.