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Salsify Fritters

Fritters made from grated salsify, eggs, milk, and flour, fried until golden.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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Why it works: Milk and flour 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 ↓

Salsify Fritters

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the batter

  1. Scrape and grate the salsify roots.

  2. In a bowl, mix the beaten eggs, milk, and enough flour to create a thin batter.

  3. Grate the salsify directly into the batter to prevent it from blackening.

  4. Add salt to taste.

Fry and drain

  1. Drop a spoonful of batter into hot fat to test the consistency.

  2. Fry the fritters until golden, then transfer to a hot colander to drain.

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.

  1. Milk + flourtop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together78,219 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  2. Egg + flourtop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together106,462 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  3. Egg + milktop 18% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together88,785 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

Milk and flour 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

Salsify
Forms the bulk of the fritter, providing its main flavor and texture.
Eggs
Bind the batter and help the fritters set as they cook.
Flour
Thickens the batter so it coats the grated salsify and holds together in the fat.
Milk
Loosens the batter and adds moisture for a tender interior.

The step that matters

Grating the salsify into the batter. Salsify roots darken quickly when exposed to air, as their juices oxidize. Grating directly into the batter keeps the pieces covered and helps them stay pale.

“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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