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Beef Croquettes

Beef croquettes are fried balls made from minced beef, mashed potatoes, gravy, catsup, spices, egg, and breadcrumbs.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 9 ingredients
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Beef Croquettes

Why it works: Pepper and marjoram match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 3% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,609 recipes. Both carry estragole, which smells anise, licorice. The science ↓

Beef Croquettes

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Mash the potatoes while hot until very smooth, or ensure cold potatoes are free from lumps.

  2. Mix in the minced beef, gravy, catsup, pepper, salt, and marjoram.

  3. Bind the mixture together with the beaten egg and form into desired shapes.

Coat and fry

  1. Roll the croquettes in fine breadcrumbs.

  2. Fry quickly in hot oil until light brown.

  3. Drain on paper towels until free from fat and serve hot.

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.

Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it

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. Pepper + marjoramtop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together2,609 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  2. Potato + oniontop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together9,023 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  3. Potato + marjoramtop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together135 recipes

    Shared aroma: alpha-pinene (pine, turpentine).

  4. Beef + oniontop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together17,092 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  5. Beef + potatotop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,052 recipes

    Shared aroma: sotolon (curry, maple).

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

What each ingredient does

Minced beef
Provides the main body and savory flavor of the croquettes.
Mashed potato
Adds moisture and binding body that keeps the croquettes tender inside.
Egg
Binds the mixture so the croquettes hold their shape when fried.
Fine breadcrumbs
Forms a crisp, golden coating that browns during frying.
Gravy
Adds moisture and savory flavor to the meat mixture.

The step that matters

Frying in hot oil. Oil that is too cool lets the breadcrumb coating soak up grease before it sets, while the filling stays cold. Frying quickly in hot oil browns the crumbs and heats the filling through without greasy results.

Swap the marjoram

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (beef, potato, onion, pepper, egg):

  1. Garlicfits better
  2. Parsleyfits better
  3. Thymefits about as well
  4. Marjoramthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against beef, potato, onion, pepper, egg. 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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