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Ham Croquettes

Ham croquettes are small, fried patties made from mashed potatoes, ham, butter, cream, parsley, egg yolk, and onion juice.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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Ham Croquettes

Why it works: Potato and onion are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 3% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 9,023 recipes. Both carry 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells earthy, pea. The science ↓

Ham Croquettes

Ingredients

Directions

Make the mixture

  1. Mix together all ingredients except the egg yolk and season to taste.

  2. Put the mixture into a saucepan and stir over heat until hot.

  3. Beat the egg yolk, add it to the mixture, and stir constantly for two minutes.

  4. Spread the mixture on a dish and cool.

Shape and fry

  1. Form into cork-shaped croquettes, coat with egg and bread crumbs, and fry in deep fat.

Serve

  1. Serve hot, alone or with Cream Sauce.

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. Potato + oniontop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together9,023 recipes

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

  2. Potato + parsleytop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together2,855 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

  3. Butter + creamtop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together41,516 recipes

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

  4. Parsley + oniontop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together25,843 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).

  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

Hot mashed potato
Forms the body of the croquette and gives a soft, tender interior.
Butter
Adds fat for richness and a smoother, more tender texture.
Boiled lean ham
Provides the savoury meaty flavour that defines the croquette.
Cream
Adds moisture so the mixture stays soft and easy to shape.
Raw egg yolk
Binds the mixture as it sets with gentle heat, helping it hold its shape.

The step that matters

Stirring in the egg yolk. The yolk must be beaten in and stirred constantly over heat so it thickens and sets the mixture without scrambling. Stirring spreads the heat evenly, so the mixture binds well enough to hold its cork shape when formed and fried.

Swap the parsley

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (potato, butter, ham, cream, egg, onion):

  1. Garlicfits about as well
  2. Parsleythe original
  3. Nutmegfits about as well
  4. Capersfits about as well

Fit is the average pairing score against potato, butter, ham, cream, egg, onion. 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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