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Rissoles and Croquettes

A dish of small meatballs and filled croquettes made from a prepared mixture, coated in breadcrumbs, and fried.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 ingredients
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Why it works: Butter and flour are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 12% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 124,287 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓

Rissoles and Croquettes

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the rissole

  1. Prepare the rissole mixture hours before and let it set in a cold place until firm.

  2. Divide the mixture into equal parts and roll each into a small ball or oval, ensuring the surface is crack-free.

  3. Brush each ball with beaten egg.

  4. Coat each ball with breadcrumbs.

  5. Fry the coated balls in deep fat until golden brown.

Make the croquettes

  1. Make a short paste with butter or lard and flour.

  2. Add a little egg to bind the paste.

  3. Roll the paste to ⅛ inch thick.

  4. Cut the paste into squares or rounds about 2½ inches across.

  5. Place a small teaspoonful of ragout or mince mixture on each piece.

  6. Wet the edges of each piece.

  7. Fold over the piece and press to seal.

  8. Brush each piece with beaten egg.

  9. Roll each piece in crushed vermicelli.

  10. Fry the vermicelli-coated pieces until golden.

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. Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together124,287 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  2. Egg + flourtop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together106,462 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  3. Egg + buttertop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together118,967 recipes

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

Butter and flour barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 124,287 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

Rissole mixture
Forms the main filling and sets firm so the balls hold their shape when fried.
Breadcrumbs
Form a crisp, golden coating that protects the rissoles during deep frying.
Butter or lard
Adds fat to the paste, making it short and tender when baked or fried.
Flour
Gives the paste its structure so it can be rolled, cut and sealed.
Beaten egg
Acts as a glue for breadcrumbs and vermicelli and browns the surface.
Vermicelli
Adds a crunchy, golden outer crust to the croquettes when fried.

The step that matters

Sealing the croquette pieces. If the edges are not wet and pressed firmly, the paste will not stick together, and the filling can leak out during frying.

“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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