Name: Chicken Croquettes
Ingredients: 1 pint rich cream or milk; 2 heaping tablespoons butter; 4 heaping tablespoons flour; ¼ teaspoon coarse sea salt; ¼ teaspoon celery salt; ¼ teaspoon white pepper; 1 pint finely chopped cold chicken; a pinch of cayenne pepper; 1 teaspoon celery salt; 1 teaspoon finely chopped parsley; a little nutmeg; 1 teaspoon lemon juice; 1 beaten egg; cracker crumbs for coating; hot lard for frying

Why it works: Celery and parsley match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 6,810 recipes. Both carry 4'-methylacetophenone, which smells bitter almond. The science ↓

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.

Celery + parsleytop 1% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together6,810 recipes

Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
Pepper + parsleytop 2% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together34,122 recipes

Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
Celery + peppertop 5% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together16,012 recipes

Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
Cream + buttertop 8% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together41,516 recipes

Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together124,287 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

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

Butter: Enriches the flour base and adds richness and flavour to the filling.
Flour: Thickens the cream into a stiff white sauce that holds the croquettes together.
Cream or milk: Forms the liquid base of the sauce, giving moisture and a smooth texture.
Chicken: Provides the main filling, bound into the sauce so the croquettes hold their shape.
Egg: Binds the mixture and, with cracker crumbs, forms the coating that browns when fried.

The step that matters

Cooling the mixture before shaping. The mixture must be cooled until firm, because a warm, loose filling will not hold its shape and may burst or fall apart when coated and fried.

Swap the white pepper

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (cream, butter, flour, celery, chicken, pepper, parsley):

Tarragonfits better
Thymefits better
Marjoramfits better
White pepperthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against cream, butter, flour, celery, chicken, pepper, parsley. 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.

Chicken Croquettes