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Potato Croquettes

A fried potato patty coated in breadcrumbs, made with butter, eggs, cheese, and seasonings.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 10 ingredients
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Potato Croquettes

Why it works: Butter and bread are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 27,232 recipes. Both carry delta-decalactone, which smells sweet, creamy. The science ↓

Potato Croquettes

Oven, in the book's wordsA hot oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a hot oven”. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Prepare the potatoes

  1. Boil the potatoes in well salted water for 25 minutes.

  2. Drain and dry the potatoes in a 400°F (200°C) oven for 10 minutes.

  3. Press the potatoes through a vegetable press.

Make the mixture

  1. Mix in the butter, egg yolks, grated cheese, salt, and pepper.

  2. Gently fold in the beaten egg whites.

  3. Shape the mixture into small croquettes.

Coat and fry

  1. Dip the croquettes in beaten egg.

  2. Roll the croquettes in bread crumbs.

  3. Fry the croquettes in deep oil until golden brown.

  4. Serve immediately.

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

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

  2. Cheese + breadtop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,130 recipes

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

  3. Butter + cheesetop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together7,962 recipes

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

  4. Potato + peppertop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together8,305 recipes

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

  5. Potato + buttertop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together6,456 recipes

    Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).

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

What each ingredient does

Potatoes
Form the bulk of the croquettes, providing starch that holds the shape once cooked.
Butter
Adds fat and richness, giving the interior a softer, moister texture.
Egg yolks
Enrich the mixture and help bind it into a cohesive, tender interior.
Egg whites
Folded in to lighten the mixture and add some airiness to the interior.
Grated cheese
Adds savory flavor and fat, and helps bind the mixture as it melts.
Bread crumbs
Form a crisp outer crust that browns during frying.

The step that matters

Fold in the egg whites gently. Egg whites trap air when beaten, and vigorous stirring knocks that air out, leaving dense croquettes. Gentle folding keeps the mixture light and helps it hold its shape.

Swap the potato

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (butter, egg, cheese, pepper, bread):

  1. Capsicumfits better
  2. Asparagusfits about as well
  3. Potatothe original
  4. Tomatofits about as well

Fit is the average pairing score against butter, egg, cheese, pepper, bread. 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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