Why it works: Flour and butter are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 12% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 124,287 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓
Mock Oysters
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the batter
Grate the corn as fine as possible.
Mix the grated corn with the sifted flour and beaten egg yolks until well combined.
Fry and serve
In a frying pan, heat equal parts lard and butter until boiling hot.
Drop portions of the mixture into the hot fat, shaping them like oysters.
Fry until brown 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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Flour + buttertop 12% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together124,287 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Corn + flourtop 13% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together6,165 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Corn + buttertop 14% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together7,345 recipes
Shared aroma: 2,3-pentanedione (butter, sweet).
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Flour + eggtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together106,462 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Egg + buttertop 17% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together118,967 recipes
Shared aroma: decanal (soap, orange peel).
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
- Sweet corn
- Provides the main bulk and natural sweetness of the fritters.
- Flour
- Absorbs moisture and helps the grated corn hold its shape while frying.
- Egg yolks
- Bind the mixture and set when heated, giving the fritters structure and richness.
- Lard and butter
- Provide the frying fat that browns the surface and adds rich flavor.
The step that matters
Frying in very hot fat. The fat must be boiling hot when the mixture goes in. Hot fat sets and browns the outside quickly, so the fritters hold their shape and absorb less grease. If the fat is not hot enough, the batter soaks up oil, turns greasy, and can fall apart.
“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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