Why it works: Flour and sugar are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 15% of all ingredient pairs, and 92,116 recipes mention both. Both carry phenylacetaldehyde, which smells hawthorne, honey. The science ↓
Fritters
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the batter
Prepare yeast according to directions (recipe above).
Sift flour into a large bowl.
Make a hole in the middle of the flour.
Add salt, yeast, and baking powder (or 2 eggs after Lent) to the flour.
Mix the dry ingredients.
Begin adding water and beat well until the batter is thick and drops gently from the spoon.
Cover and allow to rise in a warm place for 1/2 hour.
Beat down for 1 minute.
Cover to allow to rise again for about 1/2 hour.
Fry and serve
Place about 2 cups oil in a large frying pan.
Heat the oil.
Drop large tablespoons of batter into the pan.
Fry as many as the pan will hold.
Turn and fry until golden brown.
Remove and drain on paper towel.
Continue frying until all batter is used.
Sprinkle with sugar if desired.
This recipe comes from the Recipes Wiki on Fandom and is licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Our formatting and summaries are shared under the same licence.
Steps grouped into stages for easier reading; the method is the source's own.
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 aroma chemistry they share, and how many recipes mention both.
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Flour + sugartop 15% of all pairsAroma overlapmoderateMentioned together92,116 recipes
Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).
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Flour + eggtop 15% of all pairsAroma overlaplowMentioned together106,462 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Egg + sugartop 21% of all pairsAroma overlapmoderateMentioned together122,807 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Flour and egg share little aroma chemistry, yet 106,462 recipes mention both: they likely 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
- All purpose flour
- Forms the structure of the batter that holds the fritters together.
- Yeast
- Ferments the batter so it rises and gives the fritters a light, airy texture.
- Baking powder
- Releases gas during frying to add lift and a lighter crumb.
- Water
- Hydrates the flour and yeast to form a thick, spoonable batter.
The step that matters
Frying the batter. The oil must be hot before the batter goes in. Hot oil sets the outside quickly and keeps the fritters from absorbing excess oil and turning greasy. Frying too many at once cools the oil and causes the same problem.
“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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