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Potato Fritters

A fried batter of grated boiled potatoes, cream, flour, eggs, and salt.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
By Gibson, Marietta Fauntleroy Hollyday, "Mrs. C. H. Gibson." · From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 4 ingredients
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Why it works: Cream and potato are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 17% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,481 recipes. Both carry 1-octen-3-one, which smells mushroom, metallic. The science ↓

Potato Fritters

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the batter

  1. Grate the six cold boiled potatoes.

  2. Add one pint of cream or new milk to the grated potatoes.

  3. Add flour enough to make the mixture as stiff as other fritters.

  4. Add the yolks of three or four eggs.

  5. Add the beaten whites.

  6. Add a little salt.

Fry

  1. Fry the batter in hot lard or butter until cooked.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

290Calories
11 gProtein
11 gFat
38 gCarbs
What these numbers assume: 4 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Potato1 medium (173g) baked161
Egg1 large egg (50g)78
Cream1 tbsp (15ml) heavy51
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 Gibson, Marietta Fauntleroy Hollyday, "Mrs. C. H. Gibson.". 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. Cream + potatotop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together2,481 recipes

    Shared aroma: 1-octen-3-one (mushroom, metallic).

  2. Cream + eggtop 24% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together42,166 recipes

    Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).

  3. Potato + eggtop 29% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,978 recipes

    Shared aroma: (e)-2-octenal (fatty, green).

Cream and egg barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 42,166 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

Potatoes
Provide the starchy bulk that gives the fritters their body.
Cream
Adds moisture and richness so the batter stays tender when fried.
Eggs
Yolks enrich and bind the batter while beaten whites lighten its texture.
Flour (in the method)
Adds structure so the mixture holds its shape stiffly enough to fry.

The step that matters

Folding in the beaten whites. Beaten egg whites trap air that lightens the batter; overmixing them after they are added deflates the foam, leaving dense fritters.

Swap the potato

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

  1. Spinachfits better
  2. Asparagusfits better
  3. Leekfits better
  4. Potatothe original

Fit is the average pairing score against cream, 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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