Why it works: Pepper and lemon match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 3% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 27,047 recipes. Both carry trans-2-nonenal, which smells cardboard, fatty. The science ↓
Salmon Croquettes
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the mixture
Drain the liquid from the salmon and mince the fish.
Melt butter and mix it with the salmon, then season with salt, cayenne pepper, nutmeg, and lemon juice.
If needed, moisten the mixture with a little of the reserved liquid.
Add the bread crumbs and mix well.
Shape and chill
Form the mixture into rolls and coat them thickly with flour.
Place the rolls in a cold place for 1 hour.
Fry and serve
Fry the croquettes in hot fat until golden brown.
Serve on a hot platter garnished with fresh parsley.
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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Pepper + lemontop 3% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together27,047 recipes
Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).
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Nutmeg + lemontop 5% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together11,318 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).
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Bread + buttertop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together27,232 recipes
Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).
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Pepper + nutmegtop 7% of all pairsSmell alikestrongCooked together13,015 recipes
Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).
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Nutmeg + flourtop 8% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together18,623 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Salmon
- Forms the main body of the croquettes and supplies the flavour.
- Egg
- Binds the mixture so the croquettes hold their shape while frying.
- Bread crumbs
- Absorb moisture and give the mixture body so it can be shaped.
- Butter
- Adds richness and fat to the mixture and helps the exterior brown when fried.
- Flour
- Forms a dry coating that helps the croquettes brown and keeps the surface firm.
The step that matters
Chilling the shaped rolls. Cold resting firms the fat and binder so the rolls keep their shape. Skipping it can cause them to fall apart in hot fat.
“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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