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Dessert

Cream Fritters

A batter of flour, milk, eggs, nutmeg, salt, and cream is fried into golden brown fritters.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
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Why it works: Flour and nutmeg are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 8% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 18,623 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓

Cream Fritters

Ingredients

Directions

Make the batter

  1. In a large bowl, combine the flour, milk, beaten eggs, grated nutmeg, salt, and cream.

  2. Stir the mixture until well combined.

Fry

  1. Heat oil in a frying pan over medium heat.

  2. Drop spoonfuls of the batter into the hot oil and fry until golden brown on both sides.

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

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  2. Nutmeg + creamtop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together7,920 recipes

    Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).

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

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  4. Milk + nutmegtop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together14,685 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

  5. Flour + eggtop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together106,462 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

Flour and milk 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

All-purpose flour
Provides the starch and gluten that give the fritters their body and structure.
Eggs
Bind the batter and set during frying to hold the fritters together.
Heavy cream
Adds richness and fat, giving a tender crumb and softer texture.
Milk
Adds moisture to loosen the batter and helps the fritters brown.

The step that matters

Frying the batter spoonfuls. The oil must be hot enough for the batter to set quickly; if it is too cool, the fritters absorb excess oil and turn greasy. Frying until golden on both sides ensures the centre cooks through and the surface browns through Maillard reactions.

“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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