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Peach Fritters

Peach fritters made by dipping peach halves in batter and frying, served with a sauce.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
By F. L. Gillette and Hugo Ziemann · From a historical cookbook (Project Gutenberg) · 10 ingredients
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Peach Fritters

Why it works: Butter and milk 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 ↓

Peach Fritters

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the peaches

  1. Peel the peaches, split each in two, remove the stones, and dust with powdered sugar.

Make the batter

  1. To make the batter, beat the yolks of three eggs; add a gill of milk (or half a cup), a saltspoonful of salt, and four ounces of flour; mix.

  2. If old flour is used, add a little more milk if necessary.

Make the sauce

  1. To make the sauce, put an ounce of butter in a saucepan and whisk it into a cream; add four ounces of sugar gradually.

  2. Beat the yolks of two eggs; add a dash of nutmeg, a gill each of cold water and rum; stir this into the luke-warm batter and allow it to heat gradually.

  3. Stir constantly until the sauce has a smooth, creamy consistency, then serve.

Fry and serve

  1. Dip each peach piece in the batter and fry in hot fat.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

845Calories
28 gProtein
27 gFat
121 gCarbs
What these numbers assume: 7 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Flour1 cup (125g) all-purpose455
Milk1 cup (244ml) whole149
Butter1 tbsp (14g)102
Egg1 large egg (50g)78
Sugar1 tbsp (12.5g) granulated49
Nutmeg1 tsp ground (2.2g)12
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 F. L. Gillette and Hugo Ziemann. 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.

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.

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

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

  2. Flour + nutmegtop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together18,623 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  3. Flour + buttertop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together124,287 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  4. Flour + milktop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together78,219 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  5. Sugar + flourtop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together92,116 recipes

    Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).

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

Eggs
Yolks enrich the batter and sauce, adding structure and a custard-like richness.
Flour
Starch gives the batter body so it coats the peach pieces and sets when fried.
Sugar
Sweetens the peaches and sauce and helps the sauce turn smooth and glossy.
Butter
Fat that is whisked into a cream to give the sauce richness and smoothness.
Milk
Adds liquid to the batter, loosening it so it coats the peaches evenly.

The step that matters

Heating the sauce gradually and stirring constantly. Egg yolks thicken when heated, but if they get too hot too fast they can curdle. Gradual heating and constant stirring keep the sauce smooth and creamy.

Swap the nutmeg

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

  1. Cinnamonfits better
  2. Nutmegthe original
  3. Jalapenofits less well
  4. Capersfits less well

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