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 ↓
French Fritters
Ingredients
Directions
Make the batter
Boil half a quart of milk.
Mix the other half cold with one quart of flour.
Thicken the boiling milk with the flour mixture and let all cook together until well done.
While cooling, beat ten light eggs.
Add one teaspoonful of salt.
Beat the eggs into the batter, adding a spoonful at a time until all is incorporated.
Fry and drain
Have a small kettle half full of boiling lard.
Drop not quite a spoonful of batter into the lard.
Take the fritters out before they turn dark and place them in a drainer.
Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)
What these numbers assume: 5 portions
| Ingredient | Portion assumed | kcal |
|---|---|---|
| Flour | 1 cup (125g) all-purpose | 455 |
| Milk | 1 cup (244ml) whole | 149 |
| Lard | 1 tbsp (12.8g) | 115 |
| Egg | 1 large egg (50g) | 78 |
| Salt | 1 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.
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.
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.
-
Milk + flourtop 14% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together78,219 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
-
Flour + eggtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together106,462 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
-
Milk + eggtop 18% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together88,785 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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
- Flour
- Forms the starchy base that thickens with the hot milk into a batter.
- Eggs
- Bind the batter and add richness and structure to the fritters.
- Milk
- Provides the liquid that the flour thickens into the batter.
- Lard
- Fries the fritters, cooking them quickly and giving them a golden crust.
The step that matters
Take the fritters out before they turn dark. Frying continues to brown the outside after removal from the fat, so removing them early keeps the color golden rather than scorched while the inside finishes cooking.
“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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