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Dessert

Delicious Fritters

A batter of flour, buttermilk, eggs, and butter fried in lard, optionally with apples.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
By Vehling, Joseph Dommers, 1879-1950. fmo · From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 10 ingredients
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Why it works: Flour and nutmeg are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 8% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 18,623 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓

Delicious Fritters

Ingredients

Directions

Make the batter

  1. Take one quart of water and a piece of butter the size of a hen egg, boil a few minutes.

  2. Stir in enough flour to make as thick as mashed potatoes.

  3. Pour this into a bowl and beat six eggs in it, one at a time.

  4. Add a little salt and nutmeg.

Fry the fritters

  1. Beat two eggs separately.

  2. Sift one quart of flour and pour in the yolks of the eggs with one quart of buttermilk, one half teaspoonful of soda, and a pinch of salt.

  3. Beat well and add the whites of the eggs last.

  4. Fry immediately in boiling lard until a light brown.

  5. Add chopped ripe apples to the batter for apple fritters.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

796Calories
28 gProtein
27 gFat
109 gCarbs
What these numbers assume: 6 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Flour1 cup (125g) all-purpose455
Milk1 cup (244ml) whole149
Butter1 tbsp (14g)102
Egg1 large egg (50g)78
Nutmeg1 tsp ground (2.2g)12
Salt1 tsp (6g)0

One typical portion per ingredient; the recipe's quantities are not counted. A rough guide only, not for medical or dietary planning.

By Vehling, Joseph Dommers, 1879-1950. fmo. 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. 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.

  1. Flour + nutmegtop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together18,623 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  2. Flour + buttermilktop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together3,721 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  3. Flour + buttertop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together124,287 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  4. Flour + eggtop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together106,462 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  5. Butter + nutmegtop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together24,377 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

Flour and butter barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 124,287 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

Eggs
Bind the batter and add richness and structure as they set when fried.
Flour
Provides the body that thickens the batter so it holds its shape when fried.
Buttermilk
Adds moisture and tang, and its acidity reacts with the soda to lighten the batter.
Baking soda (in the method)
Reacts with the buttermilk's acidity to produce gas that helps the fritters rise.
Butter
Adds richness and flavour to the cooked water-and-flour base.

The step that matters

Add the whites of the eggs last. Beaten egg whites hold air that gives lightness. Folding them in gently at the end, and frying right away, keeps that air from collapsing and the fritters from turning heavy.

Swap the nutmeg

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

  1. Nutmegthe original
  2. Jalapenofits about as well
  3. Capersfits about as well
  4. Cinnamonfits less well

Fit is the average pairing score against flour, buttermilk, butter, 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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