Why it works: Cream and butter are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 8% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 41,516 recipes. Both carry delta-dodecalactone, which smells sweet, creamy. The science ↓
Make a Dozen Chicken Croquettes
Ingredients
Directions
Mix the minced chicken, sherry, cream, pepper, salt, and cayenne well.
Put the mixture into a buttered mold.
Steam for one hour.
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.
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Cream + buttertop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together41,516 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
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Sherry + buttertop 14% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together3,505 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).
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Chicken + sherrytop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together891 recipes
Shared aroma: piperonal (bitter, coconut).
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Chicken + buttertop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together13,902 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-furfurylthiol (coffee, roasted).
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Chicken + peppertop 16% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together19,958 recipes
Shared aroma: piperonal (bitter, coconut).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Chicken whites
- Their proteins set when heated, giving the mixture structure so it holds its shape.
- Cream
- Adds moisture and richness, keeping the set mixture soft and tender.
- Sherry
- Adds aroma and savory depth to the chicken.
The step that matters
Steam for the full hour at a gentle heat. Proteins in the chicken whites set as they warm. Gentle, steady heat lets them set evenly, while strong heat can make the mixture tough, dry, or rubbery.
“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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