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Cauliflower Fried in Batter

A battered cauliflower dish fried until golden.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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Why it works: Pepper and parsley match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 34,122 recipes. Both carry 4'-methylacetophenone, which smells bitter almond. The science ↓

Cauliflower Fried in Batter

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the cauliflower

  1. Cook the cauliflower as directed in a previous recipe.

  2. Drain the cauliflower and cut the flowered buds into small bunches.

  3. In an earthen bowl, season the cauliflower with salt, pepper, vinegar, parsley, and chives.

  4. Cover and let macerate for 2 hours.

  5. Place the cauliflower on a towel to absorb moisture.

Batter and fry

  1. Dip the cauliflower in a light batter.

  2. Fry in hot lard until golden brown.

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. Pepper + parsleytop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together34,122 recipes

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

  2. Parsley + chivetop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together2,150 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

  3. Cauliflower + parsleytop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together233 recipes

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

  4. Cauliflower + chivetop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together19 recipes

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

  5. Cauliflower + peppertop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,113 recipes

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

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Cauliflower
Forms the main body of the fritters and carries the batter and seasoning.
Vinegar
Adds a sharp acidity that brightens the mild cauliflower flavour.
Light batter
Forms a thin crisp coating that browns in the hot lard.
Lard
Conducts heat for frying and gives the coating its golden browning and rich flavour.

The step that matters

Dry the cauliflower before battering. Surface moisture from the macerated cauliflower dilutes the batter and makes the coating slide off or fry greasy. Drying it on a towel helps the batter cling and crisp in the hot fat.

Swap the chive

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (cauliflower, pepper, vinegar, parsley):

  1. Broccolifits better
  2. Cucumberfits better
  3. Radishfits better
  4. Chivethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against cauliflower, pepper, vinegar, parsley. 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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