Name: Jolly Boys
Ingredients: 1 quart cornmeal; 1 pint all-purpose flour; 2 large eggs; 1 teaspoon baking soda; 2 teaspoons cream of tartar; a little milk; ¼ teaspoon salt; lard for frying

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 ↓

Jolly Boys

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the batter

Scald the cornmeal and let it cool.
In a bowl, mix the cooled cornmeal with flour, eggs, baking soda, cream of tartar, milk, and salt until thick.

Fry

Heat lard in a pan over medium‑high heat.
Drop spoonfuls of the mixture into the hot lard 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.

Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it

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.

Flour + milktop 14% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together78,219 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Flour + eggtop 15% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together106,462 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Cream + milktop 18% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together29,399 recipes

Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).
Egg + milktop 18% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together88,785 recipes

Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Flour + creamtop 20% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together30,481 recipes

Shared aroma: acetaldehyde (pungent, ethereal).

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: Forms the bulk of the batter and gives the fritters their body and corn flavor.
All-purpose flour: Adds structure so the batter holds its shape when fried.
Eggs: Bind the batter and help set the fritters as they cook.
Baking soda: Reacts with the cream of tartar to lift the batter and give it a lighter texture.
Cream of tartar: Acts with the baking soda to produce rising and a tender crumb.

The step that matters

Frying the spoonfuls in hot lard. If the lard is not hot enough, the batter absorbs fat and turns greasy instead of forming a crisp golden crust. Keeping the heat steady at medium‑high helps the fritters brown evenly on both sides while the centres cook through.

“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.