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Fried Frogs' Legs

Fried frog legs are coated in cracker dust and beaten eggs, then fried until brown and served hot with parsley or cress.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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Why it works: Butter and parsley are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 15% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 28,563 recipes. Both carry trans-2-hexenal, which smells green, leafy. The science ↓

Fried Frogs' Legs

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Wash and boil the frogs' legs in salted water; drain and let cool.

Coat and fry

  1. Dip each leg into cracker dust, then into the beaten eggs, and again into cracker dust.

  2. Fry the legs in hot lard or butter until they are a nice brown.

Serve

  1. Serve hot, garnished with parsley or cress.

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. Butter + parsleytop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together28,563 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-hexenal (green, leafy).

  2. Egg + buttertop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together118,967 recipes

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

  3. Egg + parsleytop 21% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together18,765 recipes

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

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

What each ingredient does

Frogs' legs
Provide the main protein, which becomes tender when boiled before frying.
Cracker dust
Forms a crisp, browned coating that protects the meat during frying.
Beaten eggs
Act as a binder so the cracker dust adheres to the legs.
Lard or butter
Conducts heat for frying and adds fat that promotes browning and flavor.

The step that matters

Fry in hot lard or butter until nicely brown. If the fat is not hot enough, the coating absorbs oil and turns greasy instead of crisp. Hot fat sets the crumb quickly and drives the browning reactions that give a golden colour and toasted flavour.

Swap the parsley

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

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

Fit is the average pairing score against egg, butter. 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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