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Corn-beef Croquettes

A fried croquette made with mashed potatoes, chopped beef, butter, cream, eggs, and bread crumbs.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 10 ingredients
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Why it works: Parsley and pepper 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 ↓

Corn-beef Croquettes

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the filling

  1. Pass the mashed potatoes through a colander.

  2. In a bowl, combine the chopped beef and melted butter with the hot potatoes.

  3. Add cream, 1 egg, salt, pepper, and nutmeg; mix thoroughly.

  4. Shape the mixture into rolls about 1x2 inches long and smooth the surface.

  5. Place the rolls on a floured tray and refrigerate while preparing the bread crumbs.

Coat and fry

  1. Beat the remaining egg in a bowl.

  2. Roll each croquette in the egg, then in the bread crumbs, and let them rest for 1-2 hours if possible.

  3. Heat the lard in a pan until boiling, about 2 inches deep.

  4. Carefully place the croquettes in a frying basket and plunge them into the hot lard.

  5. Fry until golden brown, then drain on paper towels.

Serve

  1. Serve with parsley and lemon on a folded napkin.

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. Parsley + peppertop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together34,122 recipes

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

  2. Parsley + nutmegtop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together5,062 recipes

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

  3. Potato + parsleytop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,855 recipes

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

  4. Butter + breadtop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together27,232 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).

  5. Nutmeg + peppertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together13,015 recipes

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

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

What each ingredient does

Mashed potatoes
Form the bulk of the croquette and give a soft, tender interior.
Beef
Provides savory flavor and substance within the filling.
Butter
Adds fat and richness, keeping the filling moist and flavorful.
Eggs
Bind the filling and form a coating that helps crumbs adhere.
Stale bread or crackers
Form a crisp, golden crust when fried.
Cream
Adds moisture and richness to the potato mixture.

The step that matters

Frying the croquettes in hot lard. If the lard is not hot enough, the coating absorbs fat and turns greasy before it browns. Too hot, and the outside browns before the filling heats through. Keeping the oil at a steady frying temperature gives a crisp, evenly cooked croquette.

Swap the nutmeg

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (potato, beef, butter, bread, cream, parsley, pepper):

  1. Thymefits about as well
  2. Nutmegthe original
  3. Celeryfits about as well
  4. Marjoramfits about as well

Fit is the average pairing score against potato, beef, butter, bread, cream, parsley, 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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