Why it works: Flour and sugar are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 15% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 92,116 recipes. Both carry phenylacetaldehyde, which smells hawthorne, honey. The science ↓
Rolled Oats Croquettes
Ingredients
Directions
Shape
Mix the cooked oats, egg, flour, and sugar together until well combined.
Mold the mixture into oblong shapes.
Coat and fry
Dip each shape in beaten egg, then roll in cracker crumbs.
Drop the croquettes into hot fat and cook 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.
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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Flour + sugartop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together92,116 recipes
Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).
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Egg + flourtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together106,462 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Oats + flourtop 19% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together3,169 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Oats + sugartop 19% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together3,548 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).
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Egg + sugartop 21% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together122,807 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Egg and flour barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 106,462 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
- Cooked oats
- Makes up the bulk of the croquettes and gives a soft, starchy texture.
- Egg
- Binds the mixture and sets when heated, holding the shape together.
- Flour
- Absorbs moisture and firms the mixture so it can be shaped.
- Sugar
- Adds sweetness and helps the coating brown in the hot fat.
The step that matters
Keep the fat hot when frying. Hot fat sets the coating quickly and browns it. Cool fat lets the croquettes soak up grease and fall apart.
“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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