Why it works: Wine and apple are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 10% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,207 recipes. Both carry 2-isobutyl-3-methoxypyrazine, which smells green bell pepper, earthy. The science ↓
Oyster Fritters
Ingredients
Directions
Mix enough flour to make a thick batter.
Let the batter rise for 1 hour.
Stir in 2 teaspoons of yeast for better results.
Heat lard in a pan for frying.
Place a large oyster in the center of each fritter before frying.
Fry until golden brown and serve hot with wine and sugar.
For a variation, stir in cold stewed apple and reduce the flour.
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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Wine + appletop 10% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together1,207 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-isobutyl-3-methoxypyrazine (green bell pepper, earthy).
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Flour + sugartop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together92,116 recipes
Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).
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Sugar + appletop 18% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together16,478 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
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Flour + appletop 22% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together6,140 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Flour + oystertop 25% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together4,582 recipes
Shared aroma: hexanal (grass, green).
Sugar and apple barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 16,478 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
Swap the apple
The recipe marks apple as optional. How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (flour, oyster, sugar, wine):
- Raisinfits better
- Vanillafits better
- Figfits about as well
- Applethe original
Fit is the average pairing score against flour, oyster, sugar, wine. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.
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