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Fried Frogs

Fried frogs are hind quarters of frogs coated in cracker crumbs and fried in lard and butter.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 9 ingredients
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Why it works: Lemon and pepper match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 3% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 27,047 recipes. Both carry trans-2-nonenal, which smells cardboard, fatty. The science ↓

Fried Frogs

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the frog legs

  1. Scald the hind quarters in boiling water.

  2. Rub them with lemon juice.

  3. Boil for three minutes.

  4. Wipe them dry.

Bread and fry

  1. Dip them in cracker dust.

  2. Mix the eggs with milk, pepper, and salt.

  3. Dip the frogs in this mixture.

  4. Coat them again in cracker crumbs.

  5. Fry in a mixture of hot lard and butter until golden brown.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

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.

  1. Lemon + peppertop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together27,047 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).

  2. Milk + buttertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together81,283 recipes

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

  3. Lemon + milktop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together19,053 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

  4. Lemon + buttertop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together41,227 recipes

    Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).

  5. Egg + buttertop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together118,967 recipes

    Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Hind quarters of frogs
Provide the main protein, which turns tender and mild after cooking.
2 beaten eggs
Bind the cracker crumbs to the meat so the coating adheres during frying.
Cracker crumbs
Form a crisp, golden coating that browns in the hot fat.
Hot lard
Conducts heat to cook the coating quickly and gives a crisp, browned surface.
Butter
Adds richness and aroma and helps the coating brown.

The step that matters

Fry in a mixture of hot lard and butter until golden brown. Butter solids brown and burn at lower temperatures than lard, so the fat can darken too fast. Keep the heat steady and the coating dry before frying, so it crisps instead of scorching or steaming.

“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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