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Mock Oyster Fritters

A batter of grated salsify, eggs, milk, and flour fried into golden fritters.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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Mock Oyster Fritters

Why it works: Milk and flour are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 14% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 78,219 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓

Mock Oyster Fritters

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the batter

  1. Wash and grate the salsify roots, then season with pepper and coarse sea salt.

  2. Beat the yolks of 2 eggs until light, then stir them into 1 pint of milk.

  3. Add enough flour to the milk mixture to create a batter.

Fry

  1. Whisk the egg whites until stiff, then gradually fold them into the batter along with the seasoned salsify.

  2. Spoon the mixture into hot oil and fry 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.

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.

  1. Milk + flourtop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together78,219 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  2. Egg + flourtop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together106,462 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  3. Egg + milktop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together88,785 recipes

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

  4. Pepper + flourtop 19% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together50,459 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  5. Pepper + milktop 22% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together26,984 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl 2-methylbutyrate (fruity, apple).

Milk and flour 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

Salsify roots
Provides the main flavor and bulk, giving the fritters their oyster-like taste.
Eggs
Egg yolks enrich the batter, while whipped whites lighten it and help it rise and set.
Milk
Forms the liquid base of the batter, adding moisture and softness to the fritters.
Flour
Thickens the milk into a batter that holds together and sets during frying.

The step that matters

Folding in the egg whites. Stiff whites hold air that lightens the batter. Overmixing or deflating them makes the fritters dense and heavy, so fold gently and only until combined.

“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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