Why it works: Cream and sauce are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 9% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 4,787 recipes. Both carry ethanol, which smells alcoholic, ethereal. The science ↓
Croquettes
Ingredients
Directions
Combine mashed vegetables with beaten egg or chopped cooked vegetables with thick cream sauce.
Shape the mixture into small cakes.
Heat deep fat in a frying pan.
Fry the croquettes until golden brown.
For parsley, drain and shake off moisture, then fry in deep fat for 40 seconds.
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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Cream + saucetop 9% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together4,787 recipes
Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
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Egg + parsleytop 21% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together18,765 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).
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Sauce + parsleytop 23% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together6,693 recipes
Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
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Egg + creamtop 24% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together42,166 recipes
Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).
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Cream + parsleytop 29% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together6,392 recipes
Shared aroma: octanal (fat, soap).
Egg and cream barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 42,166 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
Swap the parsley
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (egg, cream, sauce):
- Nutmegfits better
- Capersfits better
- Tarragonfits better
- Parsleythe original
Fit is the average pairing score against egg, cream, sauce. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.
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