Why it works: Milk and butter are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 81,283 recipes. Both carry (z)-4-heptenal, which smells biscuit, cream. The science ↓
Snow Fritters
Ingredients
Directions
Make the batter
Stir together milk, flour, and a little salt, and make a rather thick batter.
Add new-fallen snow in the proportion of a tea-cup to a pint of milk.
Have the fat hot before stirring in the snow.
Drop the batter into it with a spoon, or bake like pan-cakes on a hot griddle.
Make the egg batter
Mix one tea-spoon of baking-powder and a little salt into one pint of flour.
Add to the beaten yolks of two eggs, one tea-cup of sweet milk or cream, a piece of butter (melted) half the size of an egg, the flour with baking-powder and salt mixed, and the well-beaten whites of the two eggs.
Beat well, bake immediately in gem pans in a hot oven, and take out and send to the table immediately.
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 |
| Butter | 1 tbsp (14g) | 102 |
| 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.
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.
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Milk + buttertop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together81,283 recipes
Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).
-
Milk + teatop 11% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together738 recipes
Shared aroma: 4-heptenal (creamy, biscuit).
-
Flour + buttertop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Flour + milktop 14% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together78,219 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Flour + eggtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together106,462 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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
- Flour
- Forms the batter's structure once it is mixed with liquid and set by heat.
- Eggs
- Yolks enrich and bind the batter, while beaten whites lighten it and help it rise.
- Baking powder
- Releases gas in the batter, making the fritters rise and become light.
- Milk
- Hydrates the flour to form the batter and adds richness and tenderness.
- Butter
- Adds fat for richness and tenderness and a rounder flavor.
The step that matters
Have the fat hot before stirring in the snow. Fat must be hot enough that the batter sets quickly when dropped in. If the fat is cool, the fritters absorb grease and turn heavy rather than light and crisp.
“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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