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Bell Fritters

A batter of flour, water, butter, lard, and eggs is boiled, stirred, and fried into small fritters.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
By Mary Randolph · From a historical cookbook (Project Gutenberg) · 6 ingredients
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Why it works: Butter and flour are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 12% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 124,287 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓

Bell Fritters

Ingredients

Directions

Make the dough

  1. Put a piece of butter the size of an egg into a pint of water and let it boil a few minutes.

  2. Thicken it very smoothly with a pint of flour.

  3. Let it remain a short time on the fire, stirring it all the time so it does not stick to the pan.

  4. Pour it into a wooden bowl.

  5. Add five or six eggs, breaking one and beating it in, then another, and so on until they are all in and the dough is quite light.

Fry and serve

  1. Put a pint of lard in a pan and let it boil.

  2. Make the fritters small, and fry them to a fine amber colour.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

750Calories
19 gProtein
31 gFat
96 gCarbs

Counts 4 of 5 ingredients. The other 1 aren't in our nutrition table and add nothing above, so the real totals are higher.

What these numbers assume: 4 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Flour1 cup (125g) all-purpose455
Lard1 tbsp (12.8g)115
Butter1 tbsp (14g)102
Egg1 large egg (50g)78
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 Mary Randolph. Recipe from a historical cookbook (Project Gutenberg).

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. Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together124,287 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  2. Egg + flourtop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together106,462 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  3. Butter + eggtop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together118,967 recipes

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

Butter and flour 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
Starch that thickens the boiling water into a smooth paste that holds the dough together.
Eggs
Proteins that set and trap air, making the dough light as they are beaten in.
Butter
Fat that adds richness and softens the crumb.
Lard
Frying fat that transfers heat quickly, giving the fritters a crisp, browned surface.

The step that matters

Beat in each egg fully before adding the next. Eggs emulsify with the fat and starch and trap air, which makes the dough light. If the eggs are added too quickly, the dough can split and lose its lightness.

“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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