Why it works: Milk and flour 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 ↓
Fritters
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the batter
Beat the eggs, milk, and salt in a bowl.
Add the flour and baking powder, stirring until combined.
Fold in the egg whites just before frying.
Fry
Heat the lard in a pan until hot.
Drop spoonfuls of the batter into the hot lard and fry until golden brown.
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.
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.
-
Milk + flourtop 14% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together78,219 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
-
Egg + flourtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together106,462 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
-
Egg + milktop 18% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together88,785 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Milk and flour 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
- Eggs
- Eggs bind the batter and add structure and richness as they set in the hot fat.
- Flour
- Flour forms the starch and protein structure that holds each fritter together.
- Baking powder
- Baking powder releases gas in the batter, lifting it so the fritters puff.
- Milk
- Milk hydrates the flour and adds moisture, keeping the batter loose enough to drop.
The step that matters
Fold in the egg whites just before frying. Folding in the egg whites last keeps the batter light. Whites hold air and the baking powder starts releasing gas once mixed in, so waiting until the batter is nearly ready to fry helps the fritters puff rather than sit flat.
“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.
More fritters recipes
You might also like
Tomato Soup526 recipes
Brown Bread461 recipes
Mutton Broth292 recipes
Yorkshire Pudding264 recipesThe free Flavor Lab newsletter: one surprising pairing a week and the molecular reason it works, in 60 seconds. No spam, unsubscribe anytime.
Prefer an account? Create a free account to save pairings and unlock the full chemistry.