Why it works: Butter and milk are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 81,283 recipes. Both carry (z)-4-heptenal, which smells biscuit, cream. The science ↓
Meat Croquettes
14 croquettesIngredients
Directions
Prepare the filling
Combine the minced meat and chopped onion in a saucepan.
Mix the flour, beaten egg, butter, and sweet milk in a separate bowl.
Heat the milk mixture until boiling.
Add the meat mixture, salt, and pepper to the boiling milk mixture.
Cook slowly for 5 to 10 minutes, stirring constantly.
Let the mixture cool.
Shape and coat
Mold the mixture into desired shapes, enough for 14 croquettes.
Roll each croquette in breadcrumbs.
Dip each croquette in beaten egg.
Coat each croquette again in breadcrumbs.
Fry
Fry in deep oil until golden brown.
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.
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Butter + milktop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together81,283 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
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Onion + peppertop 11% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together68,474 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).
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Flour + buttertop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Flour + milktop 14% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together78,219 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Onion + buttertop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together42,912 recipes
Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).
Flour and butter 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
- Minced meat
- Forms the main body of the filling that the croquettes are shaped from.
- All-purpose flour
- Thickens the milk mixture so it sets firm enough to hold its shape.
- Sweet milk
- Adds moisture and a creamy texture to the filling.
- Butter
- Adds fat for richness and a softer, tender interior.
- Onion
- Contributes savory aroma and flavor to the filling.
- Breadcrumbs
- Form a crisp, golden-brown coating during frying.
The step that matters
Cook the milk and flour mixture slowly while stirring constantly. Flour starch thickens the milk as it heats, but it can scorch on the bottom or form lumps if left unstirred or heated too hard. A thick, smooth base is what lets the mixture hold its shape once cooled and coated.
Swap the onion
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (meat, flour, butter, milk, pepper):
- Potatofits better
- Capsicumfits better
- Shallotfits better
- Onionthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against meat, flour, butter, milk, 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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