Why it works: Corn and flour are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 13% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 6,165 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓
Corn Fritters or Oysters
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the batter
Grate the corn or cut it off the cob.
In a bowl, mix the grated corn with the well-beaten eggs, flour, and salt.
Fry and serve
Heat lard in a pan to a depth of ¼ inch.
Drop spoonfuls of the mixture into the hot lard.
Fry until browned on one side, then turn to brown the other side.
Serve very hot.
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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Corn + flourtop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together6,165 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Egg + flourtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together106,462 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Corn + eggtop 26% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together7,484 recipes
Shared aroma: (e)-2-octenal (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
- Corn
- Provides the bulk and sweet flavor of the fritter.
- Eggs
- Bind the corn together and help the fritters set when fried.
- Flour
- Thickens the batter so the spoonfuls hold their shape in the fat.
The step that matters
Drop spoonfuls of the mixture into the hot lard. If the lard is not hot enough, the batter absorbs fat and turns greasy instead of forming a crisp, browned crust. Hot fat sears the outside quickly, helping the fritters hold their shape.
“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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