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German Fritters

Bread slices soaked in milk, beaten eggs, fried in butter, and sprinkled with powdered sugar.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
By Gibson, Marietta Fauntleroy Hollyday, "Mrs. C. H. Gibson." · From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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Why it works: Flour and milk 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 ↓

German Fritters

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the bread

  1. Cut bread slices half an inch thick.

  2. Remove the crust from the bread slices.

  3. Soak the bread slices in milk.

  4. Beat up two eggs and pour the beaten eggs over the bread slices.

Fry the fritters

  1. Fry the bread slices in butter.

  2. Sprinkle powdered sugar over the fritters.

Make the batter

  1. Beat nine eggs well and add one quart of milk.

  2. Stir in one and a quarter pounds of flour and add a little salt.

  3. If the batter is still too thick, thin it with water or milk.

  4. Drop a piece of lard in the pan.

Fry the cakes

  1. Fry the cakes very thin.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

797Calories
27 gProtein
27 gFat
108 gCarbs
What these numbers assume: 5 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Flour1 cup (125g) all-purpose455
Milk1 cup (244ml) whole149
Lard1 tbsp (12.8g)115
Egg1 large egg (50g)78
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. Flour + milktop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together78,219 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

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

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  3. Milk + eggtop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together88,785 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

Flour and milk 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 structure of the batter so the cakes hold together when fried.
Eggs
Bind the batter and help set the bread and cakes as they cook.
Milk
Adds moisture and softens the bread so the batter stays loose and tender.
Lard
Provides fat for frying, helping the cakes brown and crisp on the surface.

The step that matters

Thin the batter to the right consistency. A batter that is too thick cooks unevenly and stays doughy in the centre, so thinning it with milk or water helps the cakes cook through and spread thinly.

“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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