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Spanish Fritters

A fried batter of cornmeal, flour, eggs, milk, and Spanish pepper.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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Why it works: Flour and milk 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 ↓

Spanish Fritters

Ingredients

Directions

Make the batter

  1. In a bowl, mix the cornmeal, flour, and baking powder.

  2. Add the milk and chopped Spanish pepper, and mix well.

  3. Fold in the beaten egg whites gently.

Fry and drain

  1. Heat deep fat in a pan.

  2. Drop spoonfuls of the mixture into the hot fat.

  3. Fry until golden brown.

  4. Remove and drain on paper towels.

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

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

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

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  3. Egg + milktop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together88,785 recipes

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

  4. Flour + peppertop 19% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together50,459 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  5. Milk + peppertop 22% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together26,984 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl 2-methylbutyrate (fruity, apple).

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

Cornmeal
Provides the main structure and the gritty, crisp texture of the fritter.
Flour
Helps bind the batter and gives the fritters a sturdier structure.
Eggs
Whites folded in add lightness, and the eggs help set the batter as it cooks.
Baking powder
Releases gas in the batter, causing the fritters to rise and become airy.
Milk
Adds moisture that hydrates the cornmeal and flour into a spoonable batter.

The step that matters

Frying in hot fat. If the fat is not hot enough, the batter absorbs oil and turns greasy and heavy. Hot fat sets the outside quickly, creating a crisp, golden crust and a light interior.

“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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