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 ↓
Hominy Fritters
Ingredients
Directions
Make the batter
In a bowl, combine hot boiled hominy, eggs, salt, and flour.
Thin the mixture with cold milk until desired consistency.
Once cool, add baking powder and mix thoroughly.
Fry
Drop tablespoonfuls of the mixture into hot oil.
Fry until golden brown.
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 + milktop 14% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together78,219 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Egg + flourtop 15% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together106,462 recipes
Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).
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Egg + milktop 18% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together88,785 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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
- Hominy
- Provides the bulk and tender, corn-based body of the fritter.
- Eggs
- Bind the batter and set during frying, giving the fritters structure.
- Flour
- Thickens the batter and helps hold the fritters together.
- Baking powder
- Releases gas in the batter, lifting the fritters so they puff lightly.
- Milk
- Thins the batter, adding moisture and a looser texture.
The step that matters
Frying in hot oil. Hot oil sets the outside quickly, forming a crust that limits oil soaking in and keeps the fritters from turning greasy. Oil that is too cool lets the batter absorb fat and cook unevenly.
“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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