Name: Rye Drop Fritters
Ingredients: 2 tablespoons sugar; ½ cup molasses; ¼ teaspoon salt; 2 eggs, well beaten; 1 cup rye or graham flour; 1 teaspoon baking soda; white flour, as needed to make a drop batter; deep hot fat for frying

Why it works: Rye and flour match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 8% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,320 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓

Rye Drop Fritters

Ingredients

Directions

Make the batter

In a bowl, mix sugar, molasses, salt, and beaten eggs.
Add rye or graham flour and baking soda, mixing until combined.
Stir in enough white flour to achieve a drop batter consistency.

Fry and serve

Drop small spoonfuls of the batter into deep hot fat.
Fry until golden brown and serve with molasses or syrup.

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.

Rye + flourtop 8% of all pairs

Smell alikestrong

Cooked together1,320 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Sugar + molassestop 11% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together9,225 recipes

Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
Sugar + flourtop 15% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together92,116 recipes

Shared aroma: phenylacetaldehyde (hawthorne, honey).
Egg + flourtop 15% of all pairs

Smell alikelow

Cooked together106,462 recipes

Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
Molasses + flourtop 16% of all pairs

Smell alikemoderate

Cooked together10,429 recipes

Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

Egg and flour barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 106,462 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

Eggs: Bind the batter and add richness and structure to the fritters.
Rye or graham flour: Forms the main body of the batter and gives the fritters their hearty flavor.
Baking soda: Reacts to lift the batter so the fritters puff and stay light.
Molasses: Adds sweetness, moisture, and deep flavor, and aids browning.
White flour: Adjusts the batter to a drop consistency so it holds its shape in the fat.

The step that matters

Drop small spoonfuls into deep hot fat. If the fat is not hot enough, the batter absorbs oil and turns greasy instead of crisping. Small spoonfuls also cook through evenly, while large ones may brown outside and stay raw inside.

“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.

Molasses Cookies96 recipes

Molasses Cake90 recipes

Molasses Sponge Cake9 recipes

White Cake431 recipes

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Rye Drop Fritters