Why it works: Milk and wheat are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 6% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,418 recipes. Both carry (e,z)-2,6-nonadienal, which smells cucumber, melon. The science ↓
Jelly Fritters
Ingredients
Directions
Make the batter
Make a batter by beating together the eggs, milk, and flour until light.
Fry
Heat the lard or beef fat in a frying pan until boiling hot.
Add the salt to the hot fat.
Drop the batter by large spoonfuls into the pan, leaving space between each.
Cook until one side is a delicate brown, then turn to brown the other side.
Once cooked, transfer the fritters to a dish lined with a doily.
Serve
Top each fritter with a spoonful of firm jelly or jam and serve.
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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Milk + wheattop 6% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together2,418 recipes
Shared aroma: (e,z)-2,6-nonadienal (cucumber, melon).
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Wheat + beeftop 11% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together319 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-acetyl-1-pyrroline (popcorn, roasted).
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Milk + beeftop 12% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together3,759 recipes
Shared aroma: 1-hexanal (fruit).
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Egg + milktop 18% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together88,785 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Egg + wheattop 19% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together2,225 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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 help the fritters set firm when cooked.
- Milk
- Adds moisture and loosens the batter so it spreads lightly in the pan.
- Wheat flour
- Provides the structure that holds the fritters together as they cook.
- Lard or beef fat
- Conducts heat and gives the fritters a golden, browned surface.
The step that matters
Drop the batter into very hot fat. If the fat is not hot enough, the batter absorbs it and becomes greasy rather than browning and setting quickly. Leaving space between spoonfuls keeps the pan temperature up and stops the fritters sticking together.
“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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