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Beignets D'oranges

Orange beignets are fried orange pieces served with a sweet orange cream.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 11 ingredients
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Why it works: Orange and lemon match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 10,634 recipes. Both carry 3-hexenal, which smells apple, fruity. The science ↓

Beignets D'oranges

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the orange

  1. Peel the oranges and cut them into quarters, removing the seeds.

  2. Blanch the orange quarters with a little sugar.

  3. Dip them in a light batter and fry until golden brown.

  4. Serve dusted with powdered sugar.

Make the cream

  1. In a pot, mix 1 liter of milk with 2 to 5 tablespoons of sugar and flour.

  2. Bring to a boil and reduce to a thin porridge consistency.

  3. Remove from heat and let cool slightly.

  4. Stir in the egg yolks, crushed macarons, and orange blossom water.

  5. Pour the mixture onto a plate and let it cool completely.

  6. Once set, cut the cream into diamond shapes.

Coat and fry

  1. Beat the egg whites with powdered sugar and lemon zest.

  2. Dip the cream pieces in the egg whites, coat them, and fry until golden.

  3. Serve hot with powdered sugar on the side.

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.

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. Orange + lemontop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together10,634 recipes

    Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).

  2. Sugar + creamtop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together43,450 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).

  3. Flour + milktop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together78,219 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  4. Sugar + flourtop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together92,116 recipes

    Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).

  5. Milk + lemontop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together19,053 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

Flour and milk barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 78,219 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

Milk
Forms the base of the cream that sets into a thick, sliceable custard.
Flour
Thickens the milk into a porridge that holds its shape once cooled.
Egg yolks
Enrich the cream and help it set firm and smooth when cooled.
Egg whites
Whipped with sugar, they form a light coating that fries to a crisp golden crust.
Crushed macarons
Add almond flavor and a slightly sweet, nutty taste to the cream.
Oranges
Provide the bright citrus flavor and juicy fruit at the centre of the beignet.

The step that matters

Cooling the cream completely before cutting. The cream must set fully on the plate; cutting it while warm makes it soft and it will fall apart in the hot oil.

Swap the orange

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sugar, flour, milk, cream, egg, lemon):

  1. Vanillafits better
  2. Raisinfits better
  3. Figfits about as well
  4. Orangethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, flour, milk, cream, egg, lemon. 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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