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Apples Fried with Onions

Apples fried with onions, served hot.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
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Why it works: Apple and cinnamon are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 4% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 5,598 recipes. Both carry methyl cinnamate, which smells strawberry. The science ↓

Apples Fried with Onions

Ingredients

Directions

Fry the onions

  1. Peel onions and slice.

  2. Fry onions in fat until a rich brown.

  3. Drain onions on soft brown paper.

  4. Fry unpared quarters of apple in the fat left from the onions.

  5. Arrange apples in a border on a platter.

  6. Fill center with the fried onions and serve hot.

Fry the apple quarters

  1. Quarter and core five apples without paring.

  2. Put apples into a frying pan and melt beef drippings in it.

  3. When hot, lay a layer of apples skin side down.

  4. Sprinkle the layer with brown sugar.

  5. When nearly done, turn the apples and brown them.

  6. Place the apples on a platter and sprinkle with sugar.

  7. Set the platter in a hot oven and continue frying apples one layer at a time.

  8. Quarter and core five apples without paring.

  9. Put apples into a frying pan with one cup of sugar, one tablespoon of butter, and three tablespoons of water.

  10. Let the mixture melt and lay the apples with the skin up.

  11. Cover and fry slowly until brown.

Make the batter and fry apple fritters

  1. Mix and sift one and one-third cups of flour, two teaspoons of baking powder, and one-fourth teaspoon of salt.

  2. Add gradually, while stirring constantly, two-thirds of a cup of milk and one egg well beaten.

  3. Wipe, core, pare, and cut two medium sized sour apples into eighths.

  4. Slice the eighths and stir them into the batter.

  5. Drop the batter by the spoonful into hot deep fat.

  6. Fry until delicately browned.

  7. Drain on brown paper.

  8. Sprinkle with powdered sugar.

  9. Pare and core four tart apples.

  10. Cut the apples into one-fourth inch slices across the apple.

  11. Sprinkle the slices with two tablespoons of lemon juice and powdered sugar.

  12. Add two well beaten yolks to one-half cup of milk.

  13. Mix and beat into the flour until smooth.

  14. Add one tablespoon of melted butter or olive oil.

  15. Cut in the well beaten whites of two eggs.

  16. Drain the apples.

  17. Dip the apples into the batter.

  18. Fry in deep fat.

  19. When cooked, drain on brown paper.

  20. Sprinkle with powdered sugar before serving.

Make the ring fritters

  1. Mix one cup of sweet milk, one egg, one teaspoon of baking powder, one-fourth teaspoon of salt, and one-half cup of chopped apples.

  2. Add flour to make a batter stiff enough to drop heavily from the spoon.

  3. Fry in deep fat.

  4. Core and pare four apples.

  5. Cut the apples into slices one-third inch thick, leaving the hole in the center.

  6. Sprinkle the slices with sugar, lemon juice, and cinnamon.

  7. Dip each slice in fritter batter.

  8. Fry in deep fat.

  9. Drain on brown paper.

  10. Sprinkle with sugar.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

946Calories
29 gProtein
26 gFat
151 gCarbs

Counts 9 of 10 ingredients. The other 1 aren't in our nutrition table and add nothing above, so the real totals are higher.

What these numbers assume: 9 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Flour1 cup (125g) all-purpose455
Milk1 cup (244ml) whole149
Butter1 tbsp (14g)102
Apple1 medium (182g)95
Egg1 large egg (50g)78
Sugar1 tbsp (12.5g) granulated49
Lemonjuice of 1 lemon (48ml)12
Cinnamon1 tsp ground (2.6g)6
Salt1 tsp (6g)0
Waternot in our table0

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

By Mackay, L. Gertrude. [from old catalog]. 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. Apple + cinnamontop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together5,598 recipes

    Shared aroma: methyl cinnamate (strawberry).

  2. Lemon + cinnamontop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together7,950 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

  3. Butter + milktop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together81,283 recipes

    Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).

  4. Flour + cinnamontop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together17,341 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  5. Milk + cinnamontop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together12,655 recipes

    Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).

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 that holds the fritters together.
Baking powder
Releases gas in the batter so the fritters puff and turn light.
Egg
Binds the batter and adds richness and structure as it cooks.
Butter
Adds fat for flavour and browning in the pan.
Sugar
Sweetens the apples and helps them caramelise and brown.
Apples
Provide the main fruit body, softening as they cook.

The step that matters

Fry the onions until a rich brown. Sugars and proteins in onions brown slowly; pale or underdone onions stay sharp and soft, while over-high heat scorches them before the centre cooks.

Swap the apple

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sugar, butter, flour, lemon, milk, egg, cinnamon):

  1. Vanillafits better
  2. Raisinfits better
  3. Figfits better
  4. Applethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, butter, flour, lemon, milk, egg, cinnamon. 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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