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
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Chop the corn and set aside.
Make the batter
In a bowl, mix and sift the flour, paprika, salt, and baking powder.
Add the beaten egg yolks to the dry ingredients and mix well.
Fold in the stiffly beaten egg whites.
Fry and drain
Heat lard or oil in a pan and drop spoonfuls of the mixture into the hot fat.
Fry until golden brown, then drain on paper towels.
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.
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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
- Adds sweetness, moisture and bursts of texture to the batter.
- Eggs
- Yolks enrich and bind; whipped whites lighten the batter and help it puff.
- Flour
- Provides the structure that holds the fritters together as they set.
- Baking powder
- Releases gas in the batter, helping the fritters rise and turn airy.
The step that matters
Frying in hot fat. Dropping the batter into hot fat sets the outside quickly, so the fritters brown well and absorb less oil. Fat that is not hot enough lets the batter soak up grease and turn heavy and soggy inside.
“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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