Why it works: Flour and egg are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 15% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 106,462 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓
Fried Frogs' Legs
Ingredients
Directions
Marinate
Marinate the frog legs by laying them in two tablespoons oil, two tablespoons vinegar or lemon juice, a little salt and pepper.
Let the frog legs lie for three hours.
Batter and fry
Plunge the frog legs into fritter batter.
Fry the frog legs in hot lard for five minutes.
Prepare fritter batter: quarter pound flour, yolk of one egg, one teaspoon lemon juice, thirty drops oil; beat well together.
Add just enough wine to the batter to make a batter.
Beat up the white of an egg.
Add the beaten egg white to the mixture.
Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)
What these numbers assume: 5 portions
| Ingredient | Portion assumed | kcal |
|---|---|---|
| Flour | 1 cup (125g) all-purpose | 455 |
| Olive Oil | 1 tbsp (14g) | 119 |
| Egg | 1 large egg (50g) | 78 |
| Lemon | juice of 1 lemon (48ml) | 12 |
| Vinegar | 1 tbsp (15ml) distilled | 3 |
One typical portion per ingredient; the recipe's quantities are not counted. A rough guide only, not for medical or dietary planning.
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. See the original page.
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.
-
Flour + eggtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together106,462 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
-
Flour + lemontop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together30,404 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
-
Lemon + eggtop 19% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together44,316 recipes
Shared aroma: (e,e)-2,4-decadienal (fatty, deep fried).
-
Vinegar + lemontop 20% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together7,334 recipes
Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).
-
Vinegar + flourtop 27% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together8,652 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Flour and egg 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
- Flour
- Forms the structure of the fritter batter, which becomes a crisp coating when fried.
- Egg
- Yolk binds the batter and the beaten white adds lightness and lift.
- Vinegar
- Its acidity helps tenderize the frog leg meat during marinating.
- Lemon juice
- Adds acidity that tenderizes the meat and brightens the flavor.
- Oil
- Adds fat that moistens the marinade and enriches the batter.
The step that matters
Fry the frog legs in hot lard for five minutes. Hot fat sears the batter quickly, so it crisps and browns before it can soak up grease. Fat that is not hot enough makes the coating heavy and greasy.
Swap the lemon
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (vinegar, flour, egg):
- Raisinfits better
- Blueberryfits about as well
- Lemonthe original
- Figfits about as well
Fit is the average pairing score against vinegar, flour, egg. 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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