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 ↓
Oyster Fritters
Ingredients
Directions
Make the batter
Drain the oyster liquor and combine it with milk, eggs, salt, and enough flour to make a thin batter.
Chop the oysters and stir them into the batter.
Fry and serve
Heat lard or a mix of lard and butter in a frying pan until very hot.
Drop tablespoonfuls of the oyster batter into the hot fat.
Test one fritter to ensure the oil is hot enough and the fritter is the right size.
Fry until golden brown, then remove quickly and serve hot.
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.
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).
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Flour + buttertop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Oyster + buttertop 12% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together8,184 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,6-nonadienal (cucumber, green).
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Oyster + eggtop 14% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together4,103 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Milk + flourtop 14% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together78,219 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
- Eggs
- Bind the batter and help the fritters set and hold their shape when fried.
- Flour
- Provides the starch that thickens the batter and gives the fritters body.
- Milk
- Adds moisture and richness, helping the batter fry to a tender interior.
- Oysters
- Supply the main flavour and tender pieces throughout each fritter.
- Lard
- Heats evenly at frying temperature and browns the outside of the fritters.
The step that matters
Frying at the right heat. If the fat is not very hot, fritters absorb oil and turn greasy before they brown. Too hot, and the outside browns before the batter cooks through. Testing one fritter first shows whether the fat and batter size are right.
“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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